The Diagnosis
by HeavenOnASunday
Summary: Tony has major surgery, and Gibbs offers to take care of him after the fact. Tony doesn't want his help because he doesn't think he can control himself. It's hard enough to hide how he feels, but how will Tony make it staying in Gibbs' home, sleeping in the bed that smells like him? And how will Gibbs, who has his own secret, keep his hands off Tony? [A Gibbs/Tony slash]
1. Chapter 1

Tony DiNozzo felt as though he had been run over by a sixteen wheeler. Every bone, muscle, and even nerve, ached in his body. He rolled his shoulders in vain, hoping that it would loosen the knots in his muscles and alleviate even a small fraction of the pain. Of course it didn't, and he sucked air in sharply through his teeth in pain, wincing.

"You alright, Tony?"

Tony looked over at where Timothy McGee sat. At first glance, McGee looked generally concerned, but Tony caught the slight upward turn of the corners of his mouth. "I feel great, McGee. I always love it when I have to run after a suspect for three blocks, tackle them to the ground, and get kicked and punched at, and then bitten when apprehending their accomplice. Makes my freakin' day. I wish I only got the chance to do it everyday." Tony snapped.

"I thought you get a kick out of a woman biting you; thought you would find it sexy." McGee made what would have normally been a question a statement. Unable to hold back the smug smile, McGee stood and walked over to sit on a corner of Tony's desk, crossing his arms over his chest. "Have a hard time keeping up, Tony? Getting too old? A few years ago, you would have gotten the guy by the first half block, first block for sure. What's slowing you down?" McGee made a point to stare at Tony's midsection just because he knew it would make him paranoid. "You don't look as though you've packed on any pounds. Or maybe it's because you've been wearing a lot more black clothes? Getting your pants a size larger . . . ?"

"Shut up, McGee!" Tony's green eyes glazed with anger. "I haven't gained any weight, I still weigh the same as I did three years ago . . ."

"So it is your . . ." McGee paused, thinking of a word that would get under Tony's skin, "_advancing_ age that is causing you to-lag behind?"

Jumping to his feet, Tony got right in McGee's face. "I could outrun you with both my hands cuffed behind my back blindfolded."

McGee laughed. Standing, he made a point of gently patting Tony on the shoulder. "Sure, Tony, sure. Whatever makes you sleep better at night . . ."

Seething with anger, Tony almost lunged at McGee, but stopped cold at he felt his muscles cramp and cause a sharp shooting pain to course through his whole body. Groaning in agony, he fell back in his chair, wrapping his arms tightly around the lower right side of his abdomen. McGee, finished with his teasing, watched Tony breathe slowly and deeply through his mouth.

"Hey, are you sure your okay?" McGee's voice was filled with concern.

It took him a moment, but Tony finally nodded his head. "Yeah. I'm good." And bit by bit, he felt the cramp ebb away until he was feeling as crappy as he had before. He sighed, wishing that he could just go home and crawl into bed and go to sleep and not wake up until next week. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was only 0430 and he still had thirty minutes before he could officially leave, but really he couldn't leave until he had written up his report on what had happened, and Tony just couldn't muster up enough energy to stay any longer and he definitely didn't feel up to writing up the damned report. _And I'm not going to,_ he decided. Slowly, he stood and grabbed his bag. "Could you do me a favor, McGee? When Gibbs asks where I went, could you tell him I had a dentist appointment or something? Don't tell him I went home because I got the shit beat out of me, alright?"

"I don't think he'll care, Tony-"

"I know he won't. Just-don't tell him that's the reason why, okay?"

McGee stared at Tony, his face drawn in true concern for his partner and friend. They liked to mess with each other, put each other down in fun, but nothing they ever said was meant. They had each other's back, and due to their line of work, they were more than willing to take a bullet for the other, even die for each other if it came to that. He had never seen Tony take to a beating this bad, and in all actuality, it wasn't even the worse that Tony had ever received either. Hell, sometimes Gibbs head slaps were worse than any beating that any of them had ever received from a perp, but for some reason this time was different for Tony.

"Sure, but maybe you should go to the hospital, get everything checked out; make sure that you haven't broken or sprained or punctured something . . ."

Tony flashed the DiNozzo smile in attempt to lessen the seriousness of the moment that he was sharing with McGee. Tony didn't like serious. "Aw, thanks McConcerned, would you like to hold my hand, walk me to my car? Or better yet, be my nurse?" Tony forced a laugh, biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from wincing in pain. "I'm okay. Nothing a hot shower, a cold beer, soft sheets, and a sympathetic woman can't fix." Tony looked McGee up and down. "And the girl that I got in mind looks a _lot_ better in a nurse's outfit than you ever could, McGee."

"Whatever, Tony, I still think you should stop by the Emergency Room and get everything checked out . . ."

"Well, I'm not," Tony snapped, gingerly making his way to the elevator. "Can you just do as I asked?"

Knowing that once Tony made up his mind about anything no one could sway him, McGee sighed. "Yeah, sure I will. No problem. Just go home and get some rest."

Pushing the button for the elevator, Tony nodded and gave McGee a tired smile. The smile, though not his usual thirty watt smile, still had the power to make man or woman go soft. "Thanks, Tim," he said as he stepped in the elevator and once again pushed a button, this one which would take him downstairs. "I'll see you in the morning." And with that the doors slid closed, cutting off the two men's sight of the other. Knowing that he was safe from McGee or anyone's perceptive eyes, Tony allowed himself to lay his head against the cold metal of the elevator wall and squeeze his eyes tightly shut as he groaned. "Oh, God," he said through clenched teeth.

Staring at the elevator doors, McGee bit at his bottom lip. Through the years of working with Gibbs, he had learned to go with his gut and though it was nowhere near as impressive as Gibbs, it was eating at him, telling him that Tony was not alright despite his jokes and assurances. And while Tony didn't really listen to anyone, there was one person that he was far more agreeable with.

_Sorry, Tony,_ McGee thought as he pushed open the door to the stairwell and made his way to autopsy.

Tony, hands planted on the wall of the shower, rolled his shoulders slowly as the hot water ran down his bruised back and legs. Water dripped down from his hair to his face, streaming over his closed eyes, down his straight nose, and chin. Breathing out of his mouth, Tony growled in pleasure as he slowly felt his muscles begin to unwind and become loose.

"Oh, thank you, God," he moaned. "Thank you, thank you, _thank you_."

He continued to stand under the shower head with the water gently pelting skin until the water became chilled and he began to shiver. Reaching over, he flipped the water off and pulled the shower curtain open. Grabbing his towel from off the towel rack, he ran it over his head and rubbed at it until his hair was just damp and then wrapped the towel around his waist.

His body still wet, glistening with water, Tony padded into his kitchen to open his refrigerator and grab a beer, twist it open, and take a long swallow. Sighing with contentment, he started to move toward his bedroom-his bed calling for him-to crawl under the sheets and fall asleep, when he heard a knock at his door. Cursing under his breath, he turned around, and without even bothering to look through the peephole, jerked open the door.

"Can I help you-" Tony froze as he realized who stood before him.

Gibbs stood there in Tony's doorway.

"Gibbs." The name came out in a strangled whisper of shock. At the questioning cock of Gibbs eyebrow, Tony cleared his throat. "Gibbs, wh-what are you doing here?"

"McGee told me that something was wrong. You weren't accepting the pain as easily as you usually do. He was worried that you had somehow injured yourself internally, but you were being stubborn and refusing to go to the hospital to get checked out."

"Damn it, I told him I was fine, and I am. Just sore. Nothing I've never felt before."

Again, Gibbs cocked an eyebrow, and before Tony knew what was happening, Gibbs grabbed him by the back with one hand and pushed the heel of his hand into his stomach. Tony clenched his hand on the doorknob until his knuckles went as white as his face. He tried to pull himself free from Gibbs' hold, but Gibbs held fast and just moved the heel of his hand across Tony's stomach and sides. When his hand ran over the lower area on his abdomen on the right side, Tony hissed in pain.

"Shit." He slapped at Gibbs' hand. "Don't touch me there," he huffed, his lungs working on overdrive.

Gibbs sighed. "Tony, you're going to have to go the hospital. Now."

"I don't need to go see any damn doctor. What I need is to be left alone so I can crawl into bed and go to sleep."

Barely skimming his fingers over the spot, he watched as Tony trembled in pain. Gibbs looked Tony in the eyes. "You see that? I barely touch you and you're withering in pain. Do you still have your appendix?"

"Yeah." Tony's browed furrowed in confusion.

"Well, I think you won't be soon." His fingers hovered just above the spot where Tony's appendix was. "You're appendix is located right here. Even the gentlest of touches are causing you extreme pain. It's swollen, as though it's about to burst. If it bursts, you will die."

Tony's face blanched.

"Go put on a pair of sweats and a shirt. I'm taking you to the hospital."


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Gibbs got Tony in the car to go to the hospital, his skin was hot and slick to the touch, dripping with sweat. Gibbs hadn't seen Tony this sick since when he had contracted the Black Plague and that had been years ago. Though he hadn't allowed himself to show it then, Gibbs had worried about Tony during that whole disaster. He had made himself sick then and already he could feel his stomach muscles clench with worry and the need to vomit was becoming harder to control just as it had been back then. He swallowed hard and forced his feelings aside. This wasn't about him right now. It was about making sure that Tony was okay.

Pulling into the Emergency Room drive, Gibbs parked the car and quickly got out of the car. Running around to the passenger side, he opened the door. "Tony, slip your arm around my waist and I'll pull you up."

Tony balked. "I can get out of the car by myself. I don't need your help."

"Yes, you do. Quit being so damn stubborn and pigheaded."

Tony's green eyes flashed with anger, but when he saw the worry in Gibbs' own baby blues, he sighed, and just like that the anger was gone. _Damn it. Why does he have to have this effect on me?_ "Okay." Taking a deep breath in which Tony hoped Gibbs would take as him readying himself to pull himself to his feet, he slipped his left arm around Gibbs slender waist. Though the touch was innocent, Tony's heart began to beat erratically as his fingers squeezed Gibbs' hip and he was pulled to his side.

"You ready?"

Unable to speak at first, not just because of the pain in which was coursing through his body but also because of how near he was to Gibbs, Tony nodded. "Yep."

Making sure that his right hand was no where near Tony's appendix, Gibbs laid it on his hip instead and then grabbed hold of Tony's left hand which was latched onto his own hip. "Alright, slow and steady."

At the painfully slow pace in which they were going, Tony was surprised they ever made it inside the hospital and to the nurse's station, but they did. What shocked him even more though was just how worn out he was. Unable to stop himself, not even having the energy to try, Tony slumped further into Gibbs' body, using him for more than just physical support.

Only taking his hand off of Tony's long enough to slam it down on the counter in front of him to get the nurse's attention, he quickly placed his hand back where it had been before, and barked: "Emergency! Possible appendicitis!"

The annoyance in the young nurse's eyes quickly faded when she took stock of Tony. His Ohio State University t-shirt was soaked with sweat, his hair plastered to his forehead, and his eyes rimmed red. Jumping from her seat, she ran around the counter, grabbing a hold of a wheelchair. "Here you are. Help sit him down in this, nice and easy now, nice and easy. I'm going to page for Dr. Hepburn."

While the nurse ran back around behind the counter to page for the doctor, Gibbs gently eased Tony in the wheelchair. Not knowing what else to do, he pushed the sweat-slicked hair back from Tony's forehead.

"Gibbs," Tony moaned.

"Yeah, Tony?" The use of Tony's first name slipped off his tongue before he had even had time to think about it. He mentally head slapped himself for it.

The ghost of a DiNozzo smile played with Tony's lips. "I just wanted to say thank you for this."

A nod. "No problem."

"But it is. Not everyone would do this kind of thing, you know? It takes someone special to do something like this. It takes someone who cares. I haven't had too many of those kind of people in my life . . . the kind that cares." Tony bit down on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from continuing. _God,_ he thought, _I really am sick. That's the only reason why I'd be allowing myself to act like a love starved puppy._ "Of course, if I weren't me, I'd probably not care too much either."

Palming the side of Tony's face, Gibbs slowly massaged his temple with his thumb. "Ah, you're not too bad. You're a good man, Tony, and anyone who's stupid enough not to care about you, well, I wouldn't even trust them enough to wipe their own ass." He paused, waiting for the smile that he was sure he would get, and only when he got it did he continue. "You have people that care about you, Tony. Abby, Ziva, McGee, Ducky, Palmer . . . and the list goes on."

"And you?"

Gibbs took a deep breath and let it out slowly. _If you only knew how much._ "And me. Most definitely me."

Tony slowly opened his eyes at the tone of Gibbs voice. Green eyes stared into blue and Tony wondered just what Gibbs was thinking. Most of the time he could read him very well, probably better than most, but at the moment it was as though he was staring at a brick wall.

"Is this our appendicitis case?"

Gibbs turned at the voice behind him. A young woman dressed in a doctor's white lab coat and scrubs with long and thick and wavy locks of red hair stood with her arms crossed over her chest. Her face was sharp and angular, like a pixie, but the green pools which were her eyes were warm and filled with a doctor's concern.

The nurse spoke, "Yes, Dr. Hepburn, this is the patient. It appears as though he was got here just in time."

"I should say so," Dr. Hepburn muttered as she quickly stepped toward Tony. "What is your name?"

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo," Gibbs asserted.

Dr. Hepburn didn't even bother to glance in Gibbs' direction. "Well, Agent DiNozzo, may I please check over you real quick just to make sure that this is a case of appendicitis?"

Too tired to say anything more, Tony nodded.

With the efficient skill of a doctor, Dr. Hepburn quickly made about looking Tony over. "Agent DiNozzo, if you do have appendicitis this will most likely hurt. And it will hurt a lot. Are you ready?"

Again, Tony just nodded.

Gently, Dr. Hepburn placed her hand on Tony's abdomen, pushing it slightly, applying no more pressure than needed, and let go. At the sound of Tony's groan, Gibbs clenched his jaw tightly shut. He knew that the doctor was only doing what she was supposed to, but as he watched Tony's nostrils flare as he tried to get a hold off his erratic breathing and his body jerk in pain, Gibbs felt like snapping at her.

"Alright, Agent DiNozzo, I hate to tell you this but you definitely have appendicitis and you're going to have to have immediate surgery." Dr. Hepburn straightened and looked at the nurse. "Vanessa, get Agent DiNozzo prepped for surgery and wheel him back to any open operating room."

With a quick nod, Vanessa quickly grabbed the back of Tony's wheelchair and sprinted away.

Dr. Hepburn turned to follow, completely forgetting about Gibbs, but before she could also sprint away, he grabbed her by the arm and jerked her back around to face him. "Is he going to be alright?"

The doctor's sharp green eyes looked Gibbs up and down. His whole being, the way he looked at her, and the way he asked the question, demanded for her to tell him the truth. Not some half ass truth that doctors always give to try and calm the patient's loved ones, but the truth no matter how horrible the outcome would most likely be. "May I ask what you are to Agent DiNozzo?"

"His boss." A pause. "And his friend. Now, is he going to be alright?"

Dr. Hepburn sighed. "He should be. It appears as though you got him here just in time. How did you know that he had appendicitis?"

Gibbs changed his stance from the offensive to the defensive. "He got roughed up at work today. Nothing different from what he, or any agent, usually gets, but another agent told me that Tony wasn't taking it as well as he normally does; said there was something off about how he acted. I went to his apartment to check on him, and I could tell as soon as he opened the door that there was something wrong with him, and then when I checked him for any internal injuries and my fingers grazed the spot where the appendix is, he looked like death warmed over."

"It's a good thing that you went to check on him. If you hadn't brought him in, I surmise by the way he reacted to when I applied pressure to his abdomen, he wouldn't have been alive by this time tomorrow."

The sudden urge to vomit once again attacked Gibbs' senses and once more it took all of his will power to force it down. "Thank you for your honesty. Please, keep me informed."

"I will." And with that, Dr. Hepburn turned and sprinted up the hallway in the direction in which the nurse had taken Tony.

For a few moments, Gibbs' stared after the doctor, but then went to take a seat in one of the chairs that lined the wall. Flopping down, he spread his legs out as he laid his head back and ran his hands up and down his face.

_Thank you,_ he thought. Gibbs didn't especially believe in any one religion because who was it for him to say that one religion's beliefs were right and all the others wrong. So, when he gave his thanks, he did so to any other worldly divinity who could be listening.

He lasted all of thirty minutes before he could no longer take waiting alone. Reaching into his front pocket, he pulled out his cell phone. He only had to go through three rings before the phone was picked up and on the other line he heard, "Gibbs?"

"Hey, could you come to the hospital?" He paused and breathed in deeply. "It's about Tony . . ."

Ten minutes later, Abby burst through the Emergency Room doors, her pigtails swinging wildly, as she turned her head back and forth in search of Gibbs. When she finally spotted him, she ran to him. "Gibbs!"

Jerking his head off his chest, he had just enough time to stand only to be thrown back into the chair as Abby threw herself into his arms, falling into his lap, and holding tightly to his neck.

As was always the case with Abby when she gave hugs, she squeezed hard and didn't let go until she was warned that her victim couldn't breathe. As Gibbs was doing now. "Abs. Abs, uncle. Mercy." Because she was scared, she refused to let go. "Abs!"

Sighing, she squeezed Gibbs closer for a second more and finally let go. Gibbs quickly filled his lungs with air least she decided to attack again.

"Is he going to be okay?"

Now that he had someone else to focus on beside himself, to thank of someone else's feelings other then his own, he rubbed small circles at the small of Abby's back with the heel of his hand. "The doctor says that he got here just in time."

Abby nodded, biting her bottom lip. "How long has it been since he left?"

"Little over an hour."

Another nod. And then, though he should have known it was coming, Gibbs was caught off guard as Abby punched him hard in the shoulder. "What took you so long to call me?"

Glaring, Gibbs rubbed the spot on his shoulder where Abby had mercilessly punched him. "I'm sorry Abby. I had a lot on my mind."

Hugging him again, but this time much more gentle than before, she sighed. "I'm sorry."

For a few minutes, they sat like this, Abby in Gibbs' lap and her head on his shoulder, and with Gibbs absentmindedly rubbing circles into the small of her back, knowing that she needed the constant contact to keep her at ease. During that time they said nothing, but then Abby finally asked the question that had been plaguing her mind since he had called her, and the one which Gibbs knew that eventually she would ask.

"How are you handling this?"

"I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me, Gibbs. I know you too well for you to lie to me." She looked up into his eyes, but he refused to meet her gaze. "I also know how much you care for Tony." For a brief moment, she wondered if she should continue. Deciding that yes, she should, she said, "And since I know that it's more than just a friend worrying for a friend, and much more than a boss caring for his employee, you should tell me how you are really feeling. I know your secret Gibbs. You can't lie to me and tell me that you are fine when the man that you are in love with is having major surgery and if it hadn't been for McGee telling you that Tony was acting funny and you hadn't decided to check on him, he would most likely be dead." She paused only long enough for everything that she had said to sink in. "So tell me the truth."

Gibbs sighed and ran his left hand down his face. Too exhausted with worry, he gave Abby just what she wanted: the truth.

"I'm scared shitless, Abby. Appendicitis is serious, but no where near as serious as the Plague. And, yet, for some reason I'm more worried about him now than I was when he had the Black Plague. I was worried about him then, too, but this time . . . it's different."

"It's different this time because back then you were able to do something. You were able to act. Now, all you can do is wait. That's always the hardest part for the loved ones to do."

Gibbs nodded. "If only I knew how everything was going. If he's okay . . ."

"He will be."

After another hour's wait, Gibbs thought he was going to go crazy. Abby had moved from sitting in his lap to a couch and laid curled up in the fetal position, asleep. He had already gone through three cups of coffee, paced the floor until he was sure if he continued anymore he was going to run holes through his shoes, had returned to sitting in the chair, staring in the direction in which they had taken Tony. His body cried out for sleep, it had been a long and rough day at work, but his mind refused to shut down for even ten minutes.

All he could think about was Tony.

Forty more minutes had passed before he saw Dr. Hepburn slowly making her way toward him. He jumped from the chair and met her halfway.

"How is he?"

Dr. Hepburn smiled. "He's fine. Just fine. You got him here just in time. His appendix had swelled up to about the size in diameter to a golf ball. Had it gotten any bigger than that, it would have burst, and the sepsis, which is the poisonous infection found in the appendix, would have been released and killed him. But, as I said, you got him here in time and he's going to be okay. Extremely sore, but okay."

The world having been lifted from his shoulders, Gibbs returned the doctor's smile. "When can I see him?"

"You can see him for a few minutes now, if you wish. He's knocked out on pain medication so it's doubtful he'll wake up, but if he does, don't excite him in any way. He's in room 207."

Dr. Hepburn turned to leave, but stopped when she felt Gibbs' hand on her arm. She turned back to face him. "Thank you," Gibbs murmured softly.

"You're welcome." And with that she turned and walked away.

Looking back at Abby, Gibbs wondered if he should bother waking her up, but knew if he didn't she would kill him. Crouching down in front of her, he gently shook her. "Abs? Abs, wake up."

Abby's eyes fluttered open and she smiled when she saw Gibbs. "He's okay?"

Gibbs nodded. "Dr. Hepburn said I could go see him for a few minutes. Would you like to come with me?"

Abby stared at him for a moment, not saying anything. She felt for Gibbs. He was in love with a man who he felt he could never have because Tony was Tony. He needed those few minutes with Tony by himself and she wasn't about to obtrude on them. Pushing herself up, she stretched her arms and turned it into a hug. "No," she whispered in his ear. "You go check on him. I'll come tomorrow and see him."

Gibbs sighed. He knew exactly what Abby was doing, and she knew that he was doing it for him, and it made him love her even more. He kissed her gently on the cheek. "Thank you, Abs. Be careful on the way home."

"I will."

She watched as Gibbs stood and walked down the corridor in the direction that she assumed Tony's room was located. She didn't move to leave until she could no longer see him. "Poor Gibbs," she murmured as she stood and walked out the hospital doors. "Life hasn't been fair to you."

_Why does love have to be so hard,_ she thought. _Why can't it ever be simple? _She thought about it for a moment. _Only God knows why._


	3. Chapter 3

Gibbs stood in the hospital corridor outside of room 207, unsure of what to do exactly. The door was closed, but he could see Tony laying in the hospital bed through the long window in the door. The white sheets were pulled up to just above his waist. His hands were on top of the covers so Gibbs could see the all the wires and needles that hooked Tony to countless of medical apparatuses.

He felt his palms go slick with sweat and he quickly wiped them off on his jeans. Normally hospitals didn't bother him. He didn't like him and if he was in them he wasn't too keen on staying for more than he thought was necessary, but they didn't make him nervous.

_Except when it comes to Tony._

Spurred by the thought, Gibbs finally opened the door and slid quietly into the room, closing the door behind him. He didn't move away from the door, just stood there and watched Tony sleep. Already he looked twenty times better than he did when they had first arrived. His body was clean of sweat, his face was no longer flushed with pain, and his eyes were no longer rimmed red from trying to keep the tears at bay. His breathing, which before had been forced and erratic, was now deep and slow and peaceful.

Walking around to the right side of the bed, Gibbs sat down in the chair by the bed. He placed his elbows on the arms of the chair and touched the tips of his fingers together so he made a steeple out of them. He wanted to touch him, but didn't dare to. He wanted to comb his fingers through his hair, link their hands together, and most of, he wanted to lay his ear to Tony's heart and listen to it as it pumped blood and oxygen through his body and give him life. It was cheesy and sentimental, but that organ was keeping the man he loved alive and he just wanted to hear it. Even if it was just a one time thing.

_Ah, quit torturing yourself! It's never going to happen, so just get over it._

Gibbs smirked. He had had ten years to get over it.

"Heya, Boss."

At the sound of Tony's voice, Gibbs was jerked out of his reverie. He forced himself to stay as he was. He couldn't, however, stop himself from giving Tony a small smile. "Hey yourself."

Tony blinked, trying to zero in on Gibbs. "Could you do me a favor?"

Gibbs cocked his eyebrow. "What's the favor?"

"Could you stop spinning? Or make the world stop one. Whichever it is.."

Gibbs smirked. "Well you know, DiNozzo, the world always is spinning."

"Yeah, well, usually it doesn't feel as though I'm on the Cyclone at some fairgrounds." He made a motion to move but quickly froze as he moaned. "I feel like shit. Do you feel like shit?"

"No, but then again, I didn't just have an appendectomy a few hours ago, so you have a slight edge on me."

"Yeah." Tony nodded. "That might have something to do with it."

Gibbs wanted to say something, but everything that ran through his head were thoughts like, _"Oh, thank God you're alive Tony. I don't know what I would have done if you had died because I'm in love with you and have been for nearly a decade now."_ Yeah, medication might make Tony a little . . . loopy, but Gibbs seriously doubted that the stuff made him so loopy so that he would forget about his boss, a man he only saw as such besides a friend, declare his feelings for him. And because of this, he sat there just staring at Tony, not saying anything.

Tony, even with his eyes closed, knew that Gibbs was staring at him. It didn't matter where they were or what was going on while they were there, Tony knew instinctively when those blue eyes were latched onto him. This certain feeling would wash over his body every time. It would start off as a pinprick, but the longer Gibbs' eyes stayed on him, the more the feeling would grow until his whole body was a giant pincushion and Gibbs' eyes were the pins. It was a feeling that always had the power to excite him; it would kick start his heart, warm his blood, and then he would have to keep his lower half hidden by something until he could get a grip on himself.

Even now, doped up on medication, he began to feel the all familiar prickles on his skin and he felt himself tremble.

"Hey, are you okay?" Gibbs voice was deep with concern.

He peeked out from under his eyelashes, getting a hazy picture of Gibbs leaning toward him. Was it just his imagination, or did he see fear in those blue eyes? No. Fear was not in Gibbs' vocabulary. It was just the medication.

Then he felt the hand lay gently over his. The thumb slowly caressed over his knuckles, their skin barely touching, but it was so hypnotic and warm and comforting. Tony sighed from the pleasure.

"I'm fine," he murmured. "Just . . . tired."

"Sleep." Gibbs' voice was commanding but gentle.

"Hmmm." Tony drawled out in his throat. The medication was kicking in and his eyes were drooping, becoming far too heavy to keep open. "You staying?" It came out slurred and drowsy.

"Sure." Gibbs paused, continuing to caress Tony's knuckles with his thumb. "I'll stay. I'll stay until you no longer need me or want me." _Always._

Lulled into his subconscious, his last thought of Gibbs' still caressing his skin carrying him off to sleep. The thought caused his mouth to tilt slightly up in the beginning stage of a DiNozzo smile.

Gibbs leaned back in the chair and watched DiNozzo. His body slowly started to become heavy with sleep, but he fought to keep his eyes open, never wanting to stop looking at Tony, but eventually his body won and his eyes drooped to a close and stayed so.

His fingers entwined themselves with Tony's in sleep.

When Tony's eyes fluttered open, he was shocked to discover Gibbs sitting across from him in a chair. He had his head thrown back which left his neck exposed. Tony wondered what kind of delicious taste would fill his mouth if he were to lick him starting from his collarbone, up his throat, and, finally, his mouth.

Too tired and sore to do so physically, Tony mentally head slapped himself, and knowing how Gibbs would do it if he knew just what he was thinking about, he made sure it was hard enough to land him into the middle of next week.

Then he noticed his fingers entwined with Gibbs'. His breath caught in his throat. _Oh, shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. _The word became a mantra inside of his head. Had he done that in his sleep? Tony wracked his brain, pushing through the fog that clouded his mind. He had woke up last night, just for a few minutes, and talked to Gibbs. Gibbs had laid his hand over his . . . but why? He couldn't remember. Tony squeezed his eyes together as though it would help him remember. Gibbs had, he had . . . touched him, touched his hand . . . had rubbed the pad of his thumb over his knuckles . . . he had been comforting him. That hadn't been said, but that's what Gibbs had done. He had told him without saying anything that he was there for him. He told him he would stay, and stay he had.

Recognizing this as a once in a lifetime occurrence, Tony fed himself as he let his eyes travel up and down Gibbs' body. The man, though in his fifties, was as gorgeous and fit as any man half his age. The only thing that gave away his age was his eyes. His hair could be taken as premature gray, but his eyes . . . they were filled with a sorrow that no one could touch. They were blue pools of sadness mixed with wisdom on just how life worked. They were rarely, as far as Tony knew, lit with true happiness. Sure, every once and awhile they would sparkle with mischief, but the moments were fleeting and few and far in between. They were serious and caring, but Gibbs eyes were not windows to his soul; the man didn't allow anyone to read him as deeply as that, though Tony was sure that there were a few people, himself included, that had gotten pretty close to it. How and why, he didn't know, but that didn't make him any less grateful for it.

He could feel Tony's eyes raking his body over and it took all of Gibbs' self control to not tense but to lay as motionless as possible. He was reading him, in search of something, just what he didn't know but he was curious. He sat quietly for a few more moments, enjoying the sensation of his blood warming at the weight of Tony's green-eyed gaze on him.

"See anything you like, DiNozzo?"

Tony froze at the sound of Gibbs' voice. "Uh, I, I was just trying to figure out why you were still here, Boss. Didn't mean to wake you." He slid his hand out from under Gibbs'.

The loss of Tony's hand hit Gibbs in the gut. He immediately missed the warmth.

Sitting up in the chair, Gibbs twisted his head, cracking his neck. "I stayed because I wanted to, DiNozzo. I wanted to make sure that you were going to be okay."

"Well, I am, right?"

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah." He stood and looked down at Tony. "Why didn't you want me to know that you were in pain? That it was worse than normal, I mean?"

Tony gazed up at Gibbs, unsure of what to say. "I don't know. I didn't think it was anything to worry about. Just thought it was an off day. I mean, I had felt the pain before, but it usually went away . . ."

"You mean to tell me that you have felt the pain before and you didn't get it checked out?" Gibbs bit off, his voice harsh and angry.

Freezing at the obvious anger in Gibbs' voice, Tony nodded slowly, his head moving up and down against the pillow, mussing his hair.

"Why the hell not?"

Tony started to shrug, but stopped as a sharp pain stabbed at him. He was sore all over which he found strange due to the fact that he had only had an appendectomy, but then he remembered that yesterday he had got kicked and punched, thrown to the ground, and even bitten. It made much more sense to him then. "I, I don't know. I just didn't think too much about it."

"Damn it, Tony," Gibbs grounded out through his clenched teeth. "Do you realize that you could have died?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah, now I do. But how the hell was I supposed to know that I had appendicitis?"

"By going to the damn hospital when you realize something isn't right," he snapped, then pointed. "And don't you roll your eyes at me again."

Tony started to roll his eyes again, but caught himself in time. He watched Gibbs smirk.

Gibbs sighed, running his hand over his face. "Look, I'm going to go Dr. Hepburn. I'll be right back, okay?"

Nodding, he watched as Gibbs walked and opened the door, and said just as he was about to walk out, "Thanks, Gibbs."

Gibbs stopped and turned back to Tony, his hand on the door handle.

"Thanks for, um, staying and uh," Tony paused as he swallowed the sudden lump that had formed at the base of his throat. "thanks for, you know, caring."

Gibbs' heart pounded against his chest in pain. How could anyone not care about you, he wondered. He didn't know how long he stood there, but realized that it was probably a good while because Tony started to squirm uncomfortably under his gaze. Finally, he smiled. "No problem, DiNozzo. Be right back."

And he turned and left, leaving DiNozzo with his body prickling.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony had counted 2,777 dots in the ceiling tiles by the time Gibbs came back with Dr. Hepburn.

Dr. Hepburn entered the room with an air of authority, but when she stopped and stood at the foot of Tony's hospital bed and smiled, it was warm and charming, making her green eyes sparkle. "Good morning, Agent DiNozzo."

Shifting his eyes from the ceiling to the doctor, the DiNozzo smile spread across his lips and his white teeth flashed. "Well, good morning to you, too, Doc."

Leaning against the door frame, Gibbs rolled his eyes. "DiNozzo."

Tony's smile only widened.

"How are you feeling, Agent Di-"

"Please. Call me Tony."

Dr. Hepburn nodded and scanned her papers on Tony that were held together by her clipboard before she continued with her question. "So, how are you feeling, Tony? On a scale of one to ten, what would you rate your pain?"

"Me? Well, you see, just a few minutes ago a lovely nurse by the name of Jeanne came and gave me another round of whatever it is you guys are hitting me up with, and now, now I feel like I'm laying in a field of daisies." Tony's brow furrowed. "And you know something? I don't even like daisies. Lilies. I like lilies. Why do you suppose I feel like I'm surrounded by daisies when I don't like daisies but I do like lilies?"

Gibbs choked back a laugh as he saw the look of confusion on Dr. Hepburn's face. He cleared his throat. "Uh, I think I should explain that DiNozzo acts kind of . . ." He searched for a word but couldn't think of an appropriate one so he just used the one that everyone did when Tony was on medication, "loopy. Don't worry too much about it."

"I see," Dr. Hepburn drawled out. "Well, before Jeanne came in and 'hit you up', how did you feel?"

"Oh, well before I felt like shit." Tony's eyes widened as he realized what he said. "Pardon my Italian." He chuckled. "I didn't say 'pardon my French' because I'm not French; I'm Italian."

Though he found it amusing, Gibbs gave pity on Dr. Hepburn who just stood and looked at Tony as though he should be on the psychiatric level several floors above them. "DiNozzo," he warned.

"Right. Sorry, Boss. Sorry, Dr. Hepburn." Tony paused as his mind suddenly made the connection. "Hey! What's your first name?"

"Katharine, with an 'A'." The way she said 'with an 'A'' made it sound as though this was how she always introduced herself.

Tony's face lit up. "Just like Katharine Hepburn!" He narrowed his eyes and pointed. "You know, you even look like her. Tall, angular, red hair and green eyes. Uncanny, really."

"Yes, I know."

Tony leaned back into his pillows. "I like her. Kate the Great. Have you ever seen _The Philadelphia Story_ with Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart? She's amazing in that film," he continued on before the doctor could answer. "Though I think my favorite film of hers is probably, hmm, I'd say, _Bringing Up Baby_ also with Cary Grant."

Again: "DiNozzo."

"And that's my cue to shut up. Bossman always hates it when I start up on my movie . . ." Tony began, but was cut off by Gibbs.

"If that was your cue to shut up, then why don't you do so?"

Tony nodded. "Right. Shutting up." He helped up a finger. "Now."

Dr. Hepburn slowly breathed out. She was amused, but perplexed. She couldn't think of a single patient that she had had over the years that reacted like this when they were on pain medication. "Well, as I informed Agent Gibbs before I came to check on you, you're not going to be feeling like yourself for quite sometime. Recovery time for an appendectomy is usually somewhere between four to six weeks. You'll be staying with us for a few more days, but by Saturday you'll be able to leave. You're not going to be able to be by yourself during the first few weeks, however. Have you anybody that can take care of you?" She wondered if Tony had a wife or a girlfriend. The only person that she had met so far was Agent Gibbs. _He's far too handsome to be single, _she thought unabashedly.

Tony shook his head. "No, I don't have anyone."

_That's a surprise. If I weren't your doctor I'd be all . . ._

"You're going to have to figure out something because you can't take care of yourself. You're going to be stiff and sore and you're going to need help with any strenuous activities or any that could possibly become so. For about the first week, week and a half, you're going to have to be on bedrest, getting up only to use the restroom."

He bit his lip. This was what he hated the most about having no one, no family, near him. "I, I don't really know who can . . ."

"He'll stay with me." Gibbs asserted. "I'll take care of him."

Dr. Hepburn nodded and wrote on one of the papers. Tony stared at Gibbs who was still leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest with only a smirk ruining the deadpan expression on his face.

"Perfect. Now, I'll just check on a couple of things and then I'll be out of your hair for a couple of hours." Dr. Hepburn laid her clipboard at the foot of the bed and went to Tony's side and began to gently probe his stomach with her long and efficient fingers.

Tony took no notice of Dr. Hepburn's probing, but instead was lost in his own thoughts. _Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. What the hell am I going to do? I can't stay in the same house with him for over a month. I'll never make it. It's impossible. Shit. Knowing me, I'll let something slip. I'll talk in my sleep, he'll catch me checking out his ass, he'll . . . oh, God._ Tony swallowed hard at the sudden thought. _What if I catch him coming out of the shower? Towel wrapped around his waist, his silver hair dark and damp from the water, his chest bare and his hard body glistening . . . _Tony moaned deeply at the image.

"Did that hurt?"

Snapped out of his reverie, Tony gazed into Dr. Hepburn's eyes, his own blank as his mind tried to think. "What?"

"I asked, 'did that hurt'? Does it hurt when I push on you right here?"

"Oh." Tony shook his head. "No, it doesn't hurt."

"Then why did you moan?"

"Did I moan?"

Gibbs chuckled. "Yes."

Tony blanched but smiled. "Ah, I was just thinking of all the fantastic prospects of staying with you for over a month. Can't wait."

It was said sarcastically, but Dr. Hepburn, who had just picked up Tony's wrist to check his pulse, raised an eyebrow when she felt it quicken beneath her fingers.

"Neither can I."

She tried to hide her smile as she felt Tony's pulse thump wildly. _And it's true. All the good ones are either taken . . . or gay._

"How is he, Doc?"

Catching Tony's eyes, she laid his hand back on the side of the bed and patted it understandingly. "He'll be okay so far as his recovery." She picked up her clipboard and went to leave the room, but stopped as she looked into Gibbs' eyes as he pushed himself off the doorframe and straightened to his full height. "As to how he'll survive living with you . . ." She glanced at Tony then back to Gibbs. ". . . well, in the least, it should be interesting." And with that, she left.

His brows furrowing, Gibbs looked over at a wide-eyed Tony. "What do you think she means by that?"

Tony swallowed hard. He shrugged. "You know docs . . . they're as crazy as their patients."

Inwardly, he moaned. _Shit._

* * *

Tony flipped through the channels on the hospital television, never keeping it own a channel for more than four seconds. He stopped on channel 2 for the third time and continued on, starting his fourth go around.

"You ever going to decide upon a channel and keep it there?"

"There's nothing on."

Gibbs sighed. "Then why don't you just turn it off?"

"Because I'm bored." Tony stopped on channel 36 and watched a Cottonelle commercial with Zach Braff's voice over. "And it's not like I have much of anything to do." He began to flip through the channels as the Cottonelle commercial ended.

Once more, Gibbs sighed and took a sip of his third coffee that morning.

"When do you suppose they serve breakfast in this joint?" Tony suddenly asked. "I'm starved."

Gibbs chuckled. "You're always starved."

"What can I say, DiNozzo's like to eat."

"So you've said . . . many times before."

Tony rolled his eyes. He pointed a finger to his face. "You see this face? This is my 'har, har very funny' face." He stared deadpanned at Gibbs.

Gibbs allowed himself to rake his eyes over Tony's face. "It's a very nice face," he murmured.

For a long moment in time, the two men stared at each other, both wondering what the other was thinking. Tony felt as though he couldn't breathe, his lungs ached for oxygen; Gibbs felt as though at any point in time his heart was going to stop, his desire for Tony was almost too much for him to handle. A field of invisible electricity seemed to dance between the two. They were both unaware of anything outside of their world which encompassed only about five feet of distance between them . . .

And it was because of this that enabled Abby to run into the room and squeal, "Tony! You're okay, you're okay!"

Tony only had enough time to steel himself as Abby threw herself next to him and quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly. The air that his lungs had been begging for just moments ago went out of his body with an _oomph_. His fingers clawed at Abby's arms, desperately trying to relieve the pressure from his windpipe and allow air to be able to make it through to his lungs. "Abs. Abs. Abs! I can't breathe," he choked out.

Suddenly remembering how fragile Tony was, Abby pulled back her arms. "Oh, Tony! I forgot, I'm so sorry. Did I hurt you?"

He rubbed at his throat with his left hand and held onto his side with the his right, protecting the spot where his appendix, albeit very swollen appendix, had been just the day before. She hadn't touched it, and though Abby would never mean to hurt him in his condition, Tony knew very well that when Abby became overly excited she had a tendency to forget. He shook his head. "No, I'm fine."

Abby sighed in relief. "I'm sorry, Tony." She touched his cheek with her gloved fingertips. "I didn't mean to do that, but then when I saw you and saw that you were okay, well, I was just so happy that you were alive and okay that I forgot just why you were in here."

Tony gave Abby his best DiNozzo smile. "Don't worry about it Abs." He kissed her cheek lightly. "I'm okay. I'm not going to break."

Gibbs watched the tender moment between the two. They were like day and night, Abby obviously being night, but they complemented each other so well. They were both the kind of people that couldn't stand still, they were always moving, always talking, but if he was forced to choose, Tony was the anchor in their brother-sister relationship. Tony was fiercely protective of Abby, and Abby of Tony. Abby was the person that Tony went to to divulge his secrets, the ones that he couldn't talk about with Gibbs for some reason or other. Tony was the one who Abby went to to gossip with, share her findings about everything, and go to when she needed a good laugh.

"Don't think I forgot about you," Abby said as she suddenly plopped down in Gibbs' lap. He wrapped his left arm around Abby's waist, and squeezed tightly, while still holding onto his coffee with his right. "Are you okay?" she whispered quietly into his ear.

He nodded and kissed her in the same spot that Tony had kissed her. _Way to live vicariously_, he thought; it was as close to Tony's lips as he would ever get.

Continuing to sit on Gibbs' lap, Abby turned back to Tony. "Have they shown you your appendix yet?"

"Uh, no, they haven't, and I don't think I'd _want_ to see it."

"But why not? It'd be so cool."

Tony shook his head. "I don't even think they do that, Abs. I mean, isn't that kind of . . . I don't know, unethical somehow? Unsanitary?"

"Party pooper."

Gibbs smirked and Tony rolled his eyes.

"So, what have you two been doing?"

Tony sighed as he remembered how completely and utterly bored he was. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"Aw, poor baby," Abby cooed as she crawled off of Gibbs' lap to climb into bed with Tony. "Scoot," she ordered. Tony scooted. Leaning close to him, she whispered something into his ear that first caused his eyes to go wide in surprise and then for him to laugh out loud, which he immediately regretted as he felt a sharp pang in his side. "Shit!" he growled as he laid his hand over the incision. "Don't make me laugh, Abby, it hurts."

"Then control yourself."

Tony looked at her as though she were crazy. "How can I control myself when you give me information like that?"

Abby shrugged. "I don't know. Guess you're just weak."

Growling, Tony flicked the tip of Abby's nose. She gasped and went to punch him in the shoulder, but stopped as he held up a finger and wagged it back and forth. "Uh, uh, uh." He contorted his face into one inflicted with pain. "I just had an appendectomy. That's serious stuff, you know, and I'm so weak. So weak that I have to live with Gibbs for four to six weeks, recovering."

Abby's eyes went wide and she snapped her head to the left to stare at Gibbs in shock, her mouth open. "He's staying with you while he recovers?"

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah."

Shocked beyond belief, Abby slapped her hand to her forehead and moaned. "Oh, God."

The two men just stared at her.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I just wanted to thank all of you that have followed and favorited and reviewed. It means everything to me. I'm extremely happy that all of you are liking my story so far, and I promise you, I'll make sure that you continue to do so. I would also like to go ahead and apologize for any missed grammar, spelling, or punctuation mistakes that I have or have yet to make. I usually catch the few that I do make because I always comb through the story to make sure, but sometimes they just slip by me. Again, thank you all for everything. Please continue to follow, favorite, and most definitely review! I love those reviews!**

* * *

While Abby kept Tony entertained in her own inimitable way, Gibbs left the room. He needed a moment to himself, a moment to breathe, and a moment for him to berate the shit out of himself on what he had done.

Tony. In his home. Alone. With him. They would be alone. Alone together. With him taking care of Tony. _Shit_, Gibbs thought to himself. _What the hell have I done?_

He did what he had to do. Tony had no family near him. The team was all the family that he had. Who the hell knew where Senior was, and Gibbs didn't trust him enough to wipe his own ass without getting in any trouble let alone taking care of his son while he recovered from an appendectomy. As much as the team was Tony's family, the team was family to Gibbs as well. If any one of them needed help, he would be there for them. And he was going to be there for Tony. _Why did it have to be for over a month, though?_

Having walked to the cafeteria without even realizing it, Gibbs went to refill his coffee cup. What was he going to do? It already took every ounce of his willpower to not throw Tony across his desk and take him right there in the bullpen everyday, but now he was going to be in his home, sleeping in his bed, always within in reach. He had amazing self control, but Dear God . . . _did if it have to be put to the test like this?_

"Hello, Agent Gibbs."

At the sound of his name, Gibbs turned to see Dr. Hepburn smiling at him. His lips twitched into a small smile. "Hello."

"I just checked on Tony. A young woman was with him . . . a very _interesting_ woman."

Gibbs chuckled. "That's Abby. She's our forensic specialist at NCIS."

Dr. Hepburn nodded as she watched him closely. "So that's the branch of government that you and Tony work for."

"Yes," Gibbs said as he took a sip of his coffee. Surprisingly, it was good coffee, but even if it hadn't been, he wouldn't have turned it down. It was a popular belief for everybody that knew Gibbs that it wasn't blood that ran through his veins but coffee-black. Sometimes Gibbs himself wondered if that was the case.

"Agent Gibbs, may I talk to you please?"

He cocked a questioning eyebrow. "Sure." He nodded his head toward an empty table not too far away from the coffee machine and they took a seat across from each other. He didn't say anything, just waited for Dr. Hepburn to begin.

"I wanted to ask you if you fully understand what is to be expected of you for the next month and a half."

"I have to take care of Tony. I don't really see how it's going to be all that hard. Just make sure he doesn't exert himself in anyway, make sure he stays in bed for the first couple of weeks. Tony's been through a lot more than this. He'll be fine." Gibbs wondered if Dr. Hepburn could tell that he was trying to convince himself rather than her that Tony was going to be fine.

"I know. I reviewed his file and was, as you might imagine, extremely surprised when I saw that he had contracted the Plague and had survived it." She tapped a blunt, polished fingernail on the table. "And it's not just the doctor in me that finds it miraculous that for the most part, he seems to be unaffected by any lasting damage from it."

Gibbs nodded in agreement. "For the most part, for the people that know him well and work with him everyday, forget that he ever had it."

Dr. Hepburn searched deeply into Gibbs eyes. "But you don't. You never forget."

Needing to get rid of the lump that had suddenly formed at the base of his throat, he took a long sip of his coffee. He breathed in deeply. "No." Another breath. "I never forget." He would never be able to. "Most people miss the signs because they're so little and they are few and far in between, but sometimes, if he's gotten little sleep or rest, he'll be a little slower. Not too much that anyone really notices, but just enough. If he gets sick with even a minor cold, and his lungs get clogged up, it becomes harder for him to breathe. And if he gets wet even by a simple rainshower, well, it's easier for him to catch pneumonia and the like."

The doctor nodded. "You worry about him."

"I worry about all of my team."

The doctor smiled. "But not like you do with Tony."

Gibbs' eyes narrowed slightly. He scrutinized the woman before him. She was a doctor and so she was able to catch small details, that was her job, but most importantly she was a woman and women had this intuitive sense about them; if there was anything that Gibbs had learned throughout all his marriages, it was that women never missed anything. Especially when it involved love. She was a smart and beautiful woman. Tony had hit it on the head when he had said that she looked like Katharine Hepburn. She really did. The red hair was long and cascaded over her shoulders and down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were green, just like Tony's. But whereas Tony's were dark, lit with laughter most of the time but always weary and assessing, hers were like brighter, just a shade lighter than an emerald, sharp and scrutinizing.

"No. Not like I do with Tony," he conceded.

Dr. Hepburn's lips twitched, but she suppressed the smile that begged to be released.

"As I was saying, you're going to have to make sure that Tony follows the orders. Nothing exerting. Make sure he sleeps, though for a couple of days that might be all that he wants to do, keep him fed and hydrated. He's going to be sore, and the medicine is going to make him groggy most likely. Even if he tells you that he feels fine, it really is probably going to take at least a week and a half to two for him to really feel good enough to get up and walk around a little. The older you are the worse an appendectomy is to recover from. My kid sister had one when she was four, and it was just a matter of days after she had the surgery that she was amped up and running around, torturing the nurses and the rest of the hospital staff as she tore down the halls in this little car thing that they had for the kids to get in and drive." She looked at Gibbs pointedly. "Tony is not a four-year-old, so he's not going to be acting anything like my sister did."

Gibbs smirked. "Not while he's sick at least."

Dr. Hepburn laughed. "The scary thing is, I believe you when you say that." She suddenly felt a beep at her waist, and reaching down she grabbed the cell phone, reading it quickly. She stood up. "if you excuse me, it's time for me to go check on another patient of mine."

Gibbs rose. "I need to get back to Tony and Abby. It's really not very smart to leave those two by themselves together for a very long time."

She stuck out her hand to shake. "It was nice talking to you, Agent Gibbs."

He shook her hand and smiled genuinely. "Call me Jethro."

* * *

When Gibbs returned to room 207, he found Abby still laying in the hospital bed, having had at one point turned on the television, with Tony having fallen asleep next to her, his head on her shoulder. He smiled at the picture that they made, and his heart swelled painfully at the tired expression on Tony's face.

"How long has he been asleep?"

"About thirty minutes. The doctor came to check on Tony about ten minutes after you left. Where did you go?"

He took the chair that he had slept in last night. "Cafeteria. Has he ate yet?"

"Yeah. The nurse came in with breakfast at the same time Dr. Hepburn did."

Gibbs nodded, satisfied. Forgetting that Abby was even in the room, he watched Tony sleep. Even when his face was drawn with fatigue, he was the most beautiful man he had ever seen. He could only describe Tony as beautiful because that was what he was. Gorgeous. His skin was golden, taunt, and surely smooth. He didn't know because he had never allowed himself to touch Tony in the way that would allow him to discover if so or not. His eyelashes, longer than most men's, fanned his face. His golden-brown hair laid smooth on his head. His hair Gibbs knew was soft. He had head slapped him plenty of times to know that. His eyes zeroed in on Tony's rising chest, watching the bed covers rise and fall as he breathed in and out, and without even realizing it, Gibbs matched his own breathing to Tony's.

"Tony is your Achilles' heel."

Snapping out of his thoughts, Gibbs furrowed his brow. "What?"

Abby nodded her head down at the sleeping man. "He's your Achilles' heel. Your one weakness."

"How's that so?"

Rolling her eyes, she sighed exasperatedly. "Puh-lease, Gibbs. You have got to be kidding me, right? Tony has you wrapped around his little finger so tight, if you were a string you would hum every time he plucked at you." She smiled naughtily, her lips glistening red. "You'd never be able to say no to him. Whatever he wanted, you'd give it to him. Doesn't matter where, when, in what position, or how many times. If he wanted more, you'd give it to him."

Gibbs growled. "That's enough, Abby."

She shrugged the shoulder that Tony's head wasn't leaning against. "It's the truth, Gibbs. Face the fact. Tony is your jelly to your peanut butter, his ketchup to your mustered, his kryptonite to your Superman, his Cher to your Sonny." She giggled at her last comparison.

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that."

"No, you wouldn't, but as I said, it's the truth."

Gibbs grunted in denial. He forced his attention onto the show that Abby had it on. He didn't know what the hell was going on, but he couldn't continue to stare at Tony. It would only prove Abby's point further because everything she said (except the Sony/Cher thing) was true. If there had been a future for him with Tony, he would have done anything for him. No matter what it was. _And that_, he thought berating himself all over again, _is unhealthy, which ultimately means you need help you sick bastard._

"I would still be your favorite right?"

He turned to look at Abby. Just a few moments before her face had been striking with thoughts of sexual innuendo and carnal desire, but now it was soft and innocent and pure. A child's face with a child's bottom lip puckering out, pouting. It was amazing how her mind worked.

"I mean, I know he's got you wrapped around his finger and you, like, love him and all, and I get that, but I mean, I'd still be your favorite, right? No one, not even Tony would take my place? I guess . . ."

Gibbs held up a hand to quiet her rambling which she did immediately. He leaned forward in the chair, taking her hand into his and squeezing tightly before he kissed it. "You would still be my favorite, Abs. No matter what, you would still be my favorite. My feelings for you and my feelings for him are different. They don't compare, and the only thing that they have in common is me. Got it?"

Abby grinned. It was a little cocky, Gibbs noted, and he silently laughed. It had always been a competition for her and Tony . . . hell, it was a competition for everyone on his team, even Ziva, to get his approval, but it was the most competitive between Abby and Tony. They thought he knew nothing of it, didn't notice it, but he noticed everything. It amused him to no end.

"Good. Just making sure." And she turned her attention back to the television.

Rolling his eyes, Gibbs laid his head against the chair. He wasn't very tired, but within minutes, he was as fast asleep as Tony was . . .

. . . Or as fast asleep as both he and Abby had thought Tony was.


	6. Chapter 6

**First off, I would like to apologize for not putting up a new chapter in a while, but I'm really busy with school and work right now, so as much as I wish that I could make this my main priority, I can't. Christmas break is coming up soon, however, and I promise you that as soon as that is here, I'll get a lot more chapters up. So, in saying that I would like to thank you for your patience. Keep following, favoriting, and reviewing! Also, as I said, if there are any grammar or punctuation or spelling mistakes, I apologize. They slipped by me. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

As promised by Dr. Hepburn, Tony was able to leave the hospital that Saturday. He no longer felt as though he had been run over by a sixteen wheeler, but he still ached quite a bit from the appendectomy and he would have to continue taking the pain medication for another week. But none of that mattered to him. He was finally being able to leave, and even though he really wasn't liking the prospect of staying with Gibbs for nearly two months, it couldn't damper Tony's elation at finally being able to leave all the poking and prodding and never ending questions that doctors felt were insured to them because of the fact that they had a whole bunch of letters behind their name.

Gibbs was checking Tony out at noon, and the clock on the white wall of Tony's room read 11:15. He only had forty-five minutes to wait, but it seemed as though it were a lifetime; so close but yet so damn far away. Fed up with waiting, Tony growled in exasperation.

"What's your problem, DiNozzo?"

Tony looked over at Gibbs who was sitting in the chair next to his hospital bed . . . the same chair that he had hardly vacated except to get coffee and to go home and to shower and change since he had brought him into the hospital. Right now, he was reading the newspaper, his reading glasses perched at the end of his nose. He hadn't stopped reading when he asked Tony the question.

Tony sighed. "I'm ready to leave. Now."

Licking his thumb, Gibbs turned the page. "Tired of the five star service you're getting around here?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "I'm sick of it all. I just want to get out of here. I'm sick and tired of all the poking and the prodding and everything."

"I thought you liked getting attention? Besides, I'm not so old and blind to not notice that all the poking and prodding you have been getting have been from some very beautiful nurses."

"You're not old or blind." Tony murmured, but then quickly added. "And while I don't mind the attention from all the beautiful nurses, I'm sick and tired of all that damn mush that they try to pass off as food. I don't care what you say, mash potatoes are _not_ supposed to have the consistency of a leather shoe."

Gibbs couldn't help but laugh as he finally put down the newspaper and glanced over at Tony. "I thought DiNozzo's could eat anything?"

Shrugging a shoulder, Tony laid his head back on the pillows and smiled at Gibbs. "We can, but that doesn't mean we enjoy it." He paused and his green eyes glazed over as he thought about something. "You know what I _really_ want to eat right now?"

The look in Tony's eyes made Gibbs' mouth go suddenly bone dry. He tried to form some spit in his mouth so that he could wet his throat so that could talk, but he couldn't even do that. After a considerable amount of time that Tony hardly took notice of, he groaned out, "What?"

"One of your cowboy steaks." Tony closed his eyes and pictured it. He moaned with desire. Gibbs felt his hips jerk in response and he thanked God that Tony had his eyes closed as he berated himself to stop. "A nice, big juicy steak with red potatoes with cheese and butter and garlic on top, a fresh salad with a lot of ranch, and a glass of red wine."

Gibbs smirked. "Fancy."

"No, it's actually very simple. You've made it for me before."

"I did?" Gibbs cocked an eyebrow. He hadn't made Tony dinner in a long time, mainly because he hadn't been over in a long time.

Tony nodded and opened his eyes, staring into Gibbs'. "Yeah. The first time I showed up at your place. I had shown up unannounced, but you let me stay because I was upset over the fact that a college buddy of mine had . . ."

"Died in a car crash," Gibbs finished the sentence. Tony nodded. He remembered now. He had been shocked when Tony had shown up on his front doorstep, even more shocked by the fact that he hadn't just walked in like everybody else did, but then he had remembered that it was Tony's first time being over.

"_DiNozzo. What are you doing here?"_

_Tony opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it and cleared his throat instead. Gibbs stood there, waiting for him to say something, but when he hadn't after a while, he had said, "Would you like to come in?"_

_Tony had nodded, and opening the door wider, Gibbs allowed Tony to come inside._

_It had taken a couple of beers for Tony to say anything other than thanks, but sensing that he needed time, Gibbs had sat at one end of the couch with Tony at the other and waited._

_Finally, he had said, "I got a call today from a wife of an old buddy of mine." He took a long swig of the beer, his lips pulling on the lip of the bottle's neck. He swallowed. "He died in a car crash. He'd been on his way to their daughter's ballet recital."_

_Gibbs sympathized with Tony. "You and he were good friends?"_

_Tony nodded as he once more drank from the beer bottle. "Yeah. We were. We met in college. He wasn't in the fraternity or anything, but I had made friends with him. He was my math tutor, and he was one of the biggest nerds I have ever met in my life, but he was a fun guy. He wasn't socially awkward or anything. Just a really, really smart guy." Tony squeezed his eyes shut. "His name was David. We became really close. I loved him like he was my brother."_

_Gibbs reached over and touched Tony softly on the shoulder, and it was when Tony had turned to him, his green eyes wet with tears and hurt, that the love for this man would start. It had took his breath away, and he didn't know why at the time, but he had wanted to make the hurt in Tony's eyes vanish. He never wanted to see him look that hurt again._

"_I'm sorry for your loss."_

_Tony nodded, still looking deep into Gibbs' eyes. "Thanks."_

_They had sat there on Tony's lumpy couch, not saying anything, just gazing at one another, each trying to get a read on the man sitting next to him, and neither really succeeding. They were both good at hiding their emotions. It had finally been the rumbling of Tony's stomach that broke the tension between them._

_Gibbs couldn't help it, and though he knew it would ruin the somber mood-which was perhaps just what they needed-he laughed. It was the first real laugh that Tony had heard him make; it had come from deep within him somewhere, and right then and there, Tony had fallen in love with the sound. "You hungry, DiNozzo?"_

_Tony smiled sheepishly. He shrugged. "DiNozzo's are always hungry."_

_It wasn't a smirk, but rather a full smile that pulled on Gibbs' lips that Tony was graced with. "Well, in that case, I've got a couple of steaks in the refrigerator. I had planned on cooking them both tonight, one for tonight's dinner and the other for tomorrow night. Would you like the second?"_

_Tony raised an eyebrow. "You're willing to give up a steak for me?"_

_Gibbs laughed. "Yeah. It's not as though it's going to kill me to do so."_

_Tony shook his head and pointed a finger at him. "That's where you and I differ. I would never give up a steak for you," he joked. "DiNozzo's don't share food. We'll share our beds, but we won't share our steaks."_

_Again, Gibbs laughed that low roar, and Tony's blood began to simmer. "Well, I know where to go if I'm ever in search of a bedmate."_

_Both men grew quiet when they realized what Gibbs had said. At last, not being able to stand the tension that again began to accumulate between them, Tony jumped up and rubbed his hands together. "So, where's those steaks you were talking about?"_

Back in the present, Gibbs nodded. "I remember now." He stood, suddenly becoming as restless as Tony was. "As soon as I get the okay from Dr. Hepburn, I'll fix you one with all the trimmings."

Tony's tongue flicked out and ran over his bottom lip. "Can't wait."

Looking at his watch, Gibbs realized that it was 11:45. "You know what? I'm going to go ahead and get ready to get you out of here. I'll be back in a bit." And with that, he turned and left.

Tony kept his eyes on Gibbs' back until he turned the corner and he could no longer see it. He sighed heavily and leaned further back into the pillows, raking his left hand up and down his face roughly. "Damn it," he growled.

* * *

Gibbs pulled into his driveway at 12:35, parked the vehicle, and shut off the engine. He glanced over to the passenger side and saw that Tony was still asleep, his head leaning against the window. He was wearing a pair of his dark shades, but Gibbs could see through the left side that his eyes were closed, and he could hear that his breathing was slow and deep.

Quietly, he unbuckled and got out of the car to walk over to the passenger side. He opened the door, reached over to unbuckle Tony, and it was only then that he touched him gently on the shoulder and said, "We're here, Tony. Wake up."

Slowly, Gibbs felt Tony's body awaken from its slumber, and even with the shades, he could tell that Tony had his green eyes fastened onto him.

"You ready to go inside, or do you need a few minutes?"

Tony shook his head, as he slid out from the rest of the seat belt. "No. I'm ready."

"Do you think you need the cane?"

Again, Tony shook his head. "I don't think so."

Gibbs nodded. "Alright then. I'll help you get out, and if you need to, you can lean on me."

Tony sucked in a deep breath through his teeth. "Yeah. Sure. That's fine."

Sliding his arm around Tony's back and laying his hand on his left hip, he helped turn his body so he could get out of the car. When Tony was standing, he took a step back, but he still had his hand on Tony's hip for support. "Ready?"

Unable to say anything for fear that it would just come out as a moan, Tony nodded his affirmative.

Just as they had when Gibbs and Tony had first gotten to the hospital, they walked painfully slow to Gibbs front door. Reaching out before them, Gibbs turned the knob and pushed the door open, not needing to stop and unlock it because he never locked it.

He ushered Tony in as fast as he was able to go, and shut the door behind them. With his hand still resting on Tony's hip, he smiled at him. "Home sweet home."

And just as soon as the words left his mouth, there was a loud collective yell of "Surprise!" from the NCIS team. Abby quickly skipped to Gibbs and Tony, hugging them both, being extra careful with Tony.

From out of the corner of his eye, Gibbs watched as the DiNozzo grin stretched out across his face. "Well, this is a surprise," Tony murmured, and because he was standing so close to Tony, Gibbs couldn't mistake the emotion that he was trying to keep hidden. "What are all you doing here?" Tony asked.

Ziva stepped forward and kissed Tony lightly on the cheek, stepping back and clasping her hands before her. "This is a surprise for you," she said. "We are here to congratulate you on your surgery and your recovery."

McGee stepped forward, sticking out his hand for Tony to shake. "Glad to see you're okay, Tony."

Tony shook the outstretched hand, grinning. "Me, too, McGee. Me, too."

McGee smiled. "So that means you're not mad at me for telling Gibbs?"

"Naw, I'm not mad. If it weren't for you being all McConerned about me, I'd be dead by now. So, no, I'm glad that you told him. Thanks for not listening to me." Tony paused. "But don't make a habit out of it. I don't have an appendix anymore so you won't have an excuse next time."

McGee laughed. "You still have your gallbladder though."

"Har, har, har."

Gibbs chuckled. "Alright, everybody, lets move the party to the living room. Tony needs to sit down."

Walking to the couch, Gibbs gently deposited Tony at one end. He took the sunglasses that Tony was holding out for him to take and sat them on the end table. "Do you want something to drink? Water, Powerade, juice?"

"Powerade would be great." Tony's eyes widened. "Wait, you have water, Powerade, and juice in your refrigerator? You went shopping?"

Gibbs shrugged his shoulder. "I didn't want to hear you gripe about being fed like a gerbil or something. Besides, I have a whole list of foods that you can and cannot have. And I didn't have either, so I had little choice but to go grocery shopping."

Tony made out as though he were wiping tears from his eyes. He sniffed dramatically. "You like me. You really, really like me."

Everyone laughed as Gibbs rolled his eyes. "I'm not too sure about that." He left everyone as they gathered close to Tony to get the Powerade that he had requested.

"He's doing alright, Jethro," Ducky said as Gibbs grabbed a blue Powerade from the refrigerator.

Gibbs nodded. "Yes. He is. He's lucky."

"Yes, well, I think Tony would say that it is a DiNozzo thing, being lucky I mean." Ducky took a step forward and caught Gibbs' eyes. "Besides, I do not think that it was just luck that pulled him through."

"No, it was his damn ass stubbornness."

Ducky shook his head. "No, that wasn't it either."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. "Then what was it?"

Ducky sighed, exasperated. "Jethro, you cannot honestly believe that you hide your feelings as well as you do. To people that have not known you as long as I have, yes, but I know you. I know how you feel about young Anthony."

His back straightened and his stance became defensive. "He's my friend. The best Senior Field Agent I've ever had . . ."

"Yes, but Anthony is the first Senior Field Agent that you have ever been in love with." He paused and watched with mischief as Gibbs' eyes widened slightly. "He is also the only person that you have ever loved for as long as you have and not have made one move in any direction other than back."

"Duck . . ."

"Jethro." Ducky smiled sympathetically. "Again, you cannot lie to me, so why even try? What you feel for Tony is your business and no one else's except for maybe Tony. The only reason why I said anything to you was because I know that the next month and a half are going to be hard for you, and I just wanted you to know that if you need an ear to pull on for once, that I will gladly lend you mine."

Gibbs shook his head and opened his mouth to say something, but not knowing just what to say, he closed it once more. He took a moment, and then tried once more. "Duck, I . . ."

"Hey! Did you get lost in there?" Tony yelled loudly from the living room.

Ducky smiled again. "As I said, Jethro, I am here." Then he turned and went back to his friends.

Gibbs squeezed his eyes shut and let his head fall back. _Shit._ He groaned. Were his feelings for Tony obvious, or had Ducky been telling the truth when he said that only perhaps people that had known him for as long as Ducky had could tell? Whatever the case was, he couldn't allow anyone else to be able to tell. If it got back to Tony, in any way, shape, or form . . . Gibbs shook his head and grabbed the Powerade off the counter and went to give it to Tony.

"Here you go," he said gruffly, and turned away to sit in a chair that was the farthest away from everybody else. He caught Tony's concerned gaze once, and then forced himself to not look over at him again.

_I can't ever let him find out._ It became a vow, a promise to himself. And Gibbs always took his promises seriously.

* * *

It was about four o'clock before everyone began to trail out. All of them could see that while Tony was very glad to have them there, he was still weak and fatigued, and several times they had all caught him jerking his head up, forcing himself to stay awake.

Ducky was the first one to leave. "Anthony, my boy," he said as he gently patted him on the shoulder. "It is good to see that you are doing excellent. Appendectomies are no walk in the park."

Tony grinned. "You're telling me. I'll see you soon, Duck."

"Yes, I'll make it a point to stop by and see how you are doing in a few days. Palmer, are you coming with me?"

Jimmy glanced up. "Uh-yes, yes, of course. I'm your ride." He untangled his legs from the other, and pushed off the floor, bounding up as the nervous ball of energy that he was. He grinned at Tony. "Glad you're going doing good, Tony."

Again, Tony grinned. "Thanks, Palmer."

Palmer walked ahead of Ducky, murmuring his nervous thanks to Gibbs for allowing him to stop by, Gibbs nodded in return. As Ducky passed, he let his hand fall on Gibbs shoulder and squeezed. Gibbs continued to stare straight ahead, refusing to look up, and he heard Ducky chuckle as he walked away.

_Damn it_, he thought.

McGee, Abby, and Ziva left about ten minutes later.

"See you soon, Tony." Ziva said as she leaned down and kissed Tony lightly on the cheek. "It will not be the same until you get back."

Tony laughed. "I know! What are you all going to do without me? I mean, I am the sunshine in you guys' lives. Until I get back, it's going to be like a big black rain cloud is hanging over your heads."

McGee snorted. "Yeah, I don't know how I'll get through the day without you calling me McGeek and McDork and all the rest." He sighed. "What am I going to do with myself."

Tony raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Well, if you feel like that, McGee, I'll make sure that I call you everyday while I'm out on leave." He grasped McGee's upper arm. "Don't worry, McDork, I won't let you down."

McGee groaned and Tony laughed.

"You fell for that one, Tim," Abby snickered. McGee rolled his eyes, knowing full well that he had. She turned her attention to Tony, leaning down and hugging him as tightly as she dared and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too, Abs."

"If it's alright with Gibbs, I'll stop by if not tomorrow night the next."

Knowing just what would make her happy, Tony held up his pinkie. "Promise?"

Abby wrapped her own little gloved pinkie around Tony's and squeezed hard. "Promise."

Gibbs stood from his chair and walked Abby to the door, Ziva and McGee having already gotten into the car that they had all rode over together in. At the door, Abby turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing tight, and placed a chaste kiss below his ear. Gibbs felt her warm breath on his ear. "Take care of him, Gibbs."

"I will," he murmured into her own ear.

"Call me if you need me." She leaned out of his embrace. "For anything. Understood?"

Gibbs smirked. "I will. Promise."

"Good. I'll see you in a couple of days. Bye Tony, love you!" she yelled as she bounded out the door.

"Love you, too, Abs!" Tony yelled back.

Gibbs stood and waited at the door until McGee had backed out of his driveway and drove away. He silently shut the door, leaning his forehead against it as he fought to get control of himself. _Oh, God_. He was now officially alone with Tony, and he was scared out of his mind. _Please, let this go as smoothly as possible._

Taking a deep breath, Gibbs pushed himself away from the door and went back to the living room. "Hey, Tony, are you-" he paused and a sweet smile that would have taken Tony's breath away had he seen it, pulled at his lips. Tony laid with his head back against the arm of the couch, his mouth slightly open, asleep.

_Smooth sailing_, Gibbs thought. _Smooth sailing_.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Alright, here we are. Things are starting to heat up between our two favorite fellas, and I'm glad. I was ready for the heat, and just to tide you over, the next chapter you will [hopefully] be getting a lot of it. I'm really excited. As always, thanks so much for following, favoriting, and reviewing. Please continue to do so, especially those reviews! They always make my day. Really, you have no idea just how much they mean to me. Please forgive any grammar or spelling mistakes; they slipped by me. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

When Tony awoke, it took him several panic induced moments before he realized where he was. The room was dark and he could hardly see any of his surroundings, but he could tell by the slight tinge in his lower back that he was on Gibbs' couch, in Gibbs' living room, in Gibbs' house.

Question was: where was Gibbs?

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Tony pulled the blanket away from his legs-he dimly remembered Gibbs covering him with it and murmuring for him to go back to sleep when he had woke briefly during the action-stood and slowly padded his way into the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator door, and gazed at all the food and drinks, amazed that perhaps for the first time in the decade that he had known Gibbs, his refrigerator was full, and grabbed a water.

His throat dry and scratchy, he quickly chugged half of it down.

"What are you doing up?"

Tony jerked, causing the water that he had been guzzling to spill all over his shirt. Wide-eyed, his heart knocking against his chest, he stuttered: "D-damn it, Gibbs, you scared the shit out of me."

He couldn't help it: Gibbs smirked. "You didn't answer my question."

Wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand, Tony tried to calm his heart, breathing deeply. "I woke up. I was thirsty. Got a water. Didn't know that by doing so, I was going to die of a freakin' heart attack."

Again, Gibbs smirked. "Don't you think you're taking that a little too far, DiNozzo?"

Tony gave a short laugh. "No, I don't. My heart is hammering against my chest so fast, I wouldn't be surprised if it jumped out of me right now and landed in your hands." He narrowed his eyes, catching Gibbs trying to suppress yet another smirk. "Don't believe me, do you?" Before either he or Gibbs realized what he was doing, Tony moved directly in front of Gibbs, grabbed his hand, and laid it directly over his heart.

Immediately, the smirk died away from Gibbs face and he stared down at his hand. _At last_, he thought. It was the only thing he capable of thinking. At last he was feeling Tony's heart. _Bump. Bump. Bump._ Without even realizing what he was doing, Gibbs fingers curled into Tony's shirt pulling him closer. Tony's heart hammered beneath his palm. Slowly, he dragged his eyes away from his hand over Tony's heart to look into green eyes. While Tony's eyes were naturally a dark green, they now appeared to be bright, lit by a fire, a fire that was smoldering deep within his soul but was steadfastly making its way to the surface. He held onto Tony's gaze for an unprecedented amount of time, neither one giving into the other, never once breaking away.

As the moments, then the minutes passed by, Gibbs body was humming, his skin began to grow hot, his mouth went dry. He should let go of Tony, back away, go back upstairs and go back to sleep. He told himself that he should, he ordered himself to go, but his body refused to do so. Thoughts were bouncing wildly inside his head; he couldn't latch onto any of them. The only comprehensible thought was a mantra: _Tony. Tony. Tony._ Over and over and over again. One name, one man. _Tony. Tony. Tony._

Gibbs' hand was warm against his chest. It amazed Tony that he could feel the heat from his hand through his thick shirt, but he did. It was as though his hand was so hot, it had seared straight through his shirt and skin and straight to his heart where his fingers latched onto it, curling around it. His fingers weren't constricting; they weren't squeezing him to death but rather just tightly holding on as though he never wanted to let go.

Tony never wanted him to.

Forcing himself to speak, Gibbs said the first thought that came to mind that wouldn't get him into trouble: "Your shirt is wet."

"It is, isn't it?" His voice was low and husky, laced with lust and desire. Shocked with himself, he cleared his throat and took a step back. Gibbs forced himself to uncurl his fingers from his tight grip on his shirt. Tony missed the warmth and the feeling of security. "Maybe next time when I get up to get a bottle of water you won't scare the crap out of me."

"Yeah." Needing even more space than what Tony had given them, Gibbs walked to the coffee pot and began to fix himself a pot. There was no way in hell he was going back to bed after that episode. "You're not supposed to be up. Dr. Hepburn said that you were only to get up to use the restroom; you're still on bedrest for a week."

Though he didn't see him, Gibbs could tell that Tony shrugged his shoulder, as though dismissing the truth to Gibbs' statement, and said, "I didn't know where you were, and I didn't feel like bothering you just to get a water for me. It wasn't far. And besides, I was on the couch, not in bed, so therefore I wasn't breaking any rules; I wasn't put on couch rest." It was lame, but it was a loophole.

"You can find a loophole in anything."

Tony grinned, shrugged his shoulder. "Just one of my many talents, Boss. I'm amazing, I know."

Turning back toward Tony, Gibbs leaned his lower back against the sink, crossed his ankles, and took a sip of his coffee. He ran his eyes over Tony from head to toe. "Yes, you are."

The heat began to rise in him once more. He took another swallow of his coffee and it only fueled his desire. He needed to stop, and he needed to do it now. "Since you're awake, do you think you can make it upstairs to bed?"

Tony's eyes widened slightly. "Bed?"

Gibbs nodded. "Yeah. You can't sleep on the couch, and the spare bedroom isn't a spare at the moment, so you'll be sleeping in my bed while you're here."

_Oh, God. I've got to sleep in his bed that smells like him? For two months? I can't do it. It's impossible._ "That's not necessary, Boss. I don't mind sleeping on the couch. Besides, if I stay on the couch, it'll be easier to get around, get to the kitchen and stuff like that. And, and besides, you don't have a television in your room. I mean, I'd go crazy up there." _Massive understatement._

Drowning the rest of his coffee, Gibbs shrugged. "If you want, tomorrow-well, really this morning I suppose-I can drop by your apartment, bring your television and some of your movies, and I do mean _some_ not _all_, and set you up in my room. It's no big deal."

Tony shook his head. "It's a very big deal. I can't have you do that, disrupt your life because I was stupid and had to have an appendectomy."

"One, you're not disrupting my life. Two, you're not stupid; you can't _catch_ an appendicitis, it just happens. And three, I'll see it as a favor that you'll be doing _me_."

"A favor to you?"

"Yeah. If I bring your television and some of your movies, you won't be such a nuisance. It'll keep you out of trouble." Gibbs smirked, his blue eyes dancing with mischievousness.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Tony crossed his arms over his chest. His shirt, slightly damp by then, stuck to arms only a little. "And where will you be sleeping for two months?"

"Couch. Boat. Where I normally do. The fact that I was actually in bed when I heard moving around going on down here is a shock to me."

"That's stupid. And me taking up your bed while you sleep on the couch or in the basement on the boat _is_ me disrupting your life. I don't care if that is the norm for you or not. I'm not going to disrupt your life anymore than I already have."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Either you let me sleep on the couch." Tony paused. _Don't you even dare. If you open your mouth and suggest that . . . _"Or we can share your bed." _Shit._

Gibbs cocked an eyebrow. "Which do you prefer?"

_Oh, God, if you only knew_. "Doesn't matter to me. But I'm pretty sure I know what you're going to say."

"You do, do you?"

"Couch, and I'm completely fine with it. It really would be easier if I stayed down here than going upstairs. The couch isn't too far away from the refrigerator and you have a downstairs bathroom, so I'm set . . ."

"You're not sleeping on the couch, DiNozzo." Gibbs said, cutting Tony off.

"I . . . I'm not?"

"Nope. So, you need or want anything else down here?"

Unable to speak, Tony shook his head.

Gibbs jerked his chin in the direction of the stairs. "Then let's go."

* * *

Tony laid there, on his back, stiff as a board. He couldn't sleep on his right side because of his appendectomy which also ruled out sleeping on his stomach. He didn't dare sleep on his left side because then he would be facing Gibbs. So back it was. He could feel Gibbs next to him, his breathing deep and peaceful. Tony wasn't too sure if Gibbs was asleep or not, but he hoped he was. _What the hell were you thinking, you idiot? Seriously. 'We could share your bed'? Are you asking for torture?_ He must have because that was exactly what he was getting. He was so close to him, mere inches separating them. He could feel his body heat on his skin. They weren't touching, but it warmed him nonetheless.

Tony closed his eyes, pleading to any divine being to just let him fall into a deep sleep. A sleep so deep that he wouldn't dream or talk, or, God forbid, moan Gibbs' name as he often did. He prayed fervently, but it was to no avail.

"What's on your mind, DiNozzo."

Gibbs' deep voice cut through the dark like a finely sharpened knife.

_You._ "Nothing," he murmured.

"You're tense. I can feel it. You got something you need to talk about?"

Tony closed his eyes once more. "No. I don't have anything I need to talk about."

"Then why don't you go to sleep?"

"Not tired, I suppose."

"You're not in pain are you? We've got that pain medication. Dr. Hepburn said to give you a couple if you were feeling any kind of pain."

Pain medication was the last thing he needed. _I'd definitely start talking then. And there wouldn't be anything that I could do about it._ While he was on pain medication, it was as though he had no filter whatsoever from his brain to his mouth. "No, I don't need any pain medication. I'm not in any really terrible pain, just a slight twinge and that doesn't warrant pain medication, especially for me."

Gibbs chuckled. "You were under it at the time, but you should have seen Dr. Hepburn's face when you were acting loopy on the stuff that they were 'hitting you up' with as you said. It was priceless."

Tony couldn't help but to grin. "What did I say?"

"Ah, nothing new. You were just being you doped up on pain medication."

"Seriously, what did I say?"

"Well, let's see. You went on about the comparison about Dr. Hepburn with Katharine Hepburn, your favorite films of hers, and you mentioned that you felt as though you were in a field of daisies and how strange you thought that was because you didn't like daisies, but you do like lilies."

Tony groaned in embarrassment. "Well, that wasn't too bad. What did I say were my favorite Katharine Hepburn films?"

"You really like _The Philadelphia Story_, but your favorite is _Bringing Up Baby_."

"Yeah, well, I was at least somewhat in my mind. Those really are my favorites."

They lulled into silence. They listened to each other breathe, and both were comforted by the sound. Both couldn't believe that they were laying in bed together, Gibbs' bed at that. They both wanted to reach out and touch each other somehow, but they didn't, both knowing that it would freak out the other. Both. Both. Both.

Tony whispered Gibbs' name.

"Hmm?"

Taking a deep breath, he said what he had been wanting to say ever since Gibbs' had checked him out of the hospital. "Thanks for taking me in, for letting me stay. Not everyone would do that, you know? Not for me anyways."

Gibbs sighed. "Why do you put yourself down like that?"

Tony furrowed his brow, turned to look at him. "I don't put myself down."

Gibbs turned over onto his side, his blue eyes locking onto green. Even in the dark, he could see Tony's eyes clearly. He loved his eyes. They were, unlike his, the windows to his soul. Most of the time they were open, allowing anyone to see through them, and then there were times they were closed so tightly not even he could guess what he was thinking, what he was feeling.

"Yes, you do. I don't know why, but you do."

Now that Gibbs was looking into his eyes, Tony couldn't look away. Gibbs always had had this power of him, captivating him, keeping him in one place, and Tony wasn't able to do anything to break free, in truth he had never wanted to, and he was only set free when Gibbs himself broke the contact.

Suddenly, Gibbs' hand was cupping the right side of Tony's face, and his thumb caressing his skin. Then it moved to his mouth, running over his bottom lip. Back and forth, back and forth. Tony bit down on his tongue hard to stop himself from moaning.

_God. It feels so good._ Not even in his dreams had he imagined that Gibbs touching him would feel this good. The pad of thumb was hardened by all the woodwork that he did by hand, but yet, at the same time, it was so incredibly soft. And gentle. Gibbs touched him as though he were going to break; as though he were something to be savored and enjoyed.

His blood was humming inside his veins. He felt as though he were vibrating. He had wanted Gibbs to touch him for so long, and now that he was, he felt as though he were going to explode. And then Tony realized what was happening to him.

"Oh, God," he bit off and jerked himself away from Gibbs, getting to his feet as quickly as he could. With Gibbs calling out his name from behind, Tony escaped to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. He leaned his head against it, squeezing his eyes shut, and gasping for breath.

_Shit. Shit. Shit._ He ached. He needed a release, but he didn't dare to do anything with nothing but a door separating him from Gibbs. To cover up the noise, Tony flushed the toilet and then turned on the water faucet, splashing his face with cold water.

"Get a hold of yourself, DiNozzo."

He stared at himself in the mirror. His green eyes were darker than they ever had been before, dark and cloudy with a desire that he had never felt for another human being in his whole life.

A desire, Tony realized, that he never wanted to feel for anyone else other than the man on the other side of that door again.

His blood now having cooled, Tony took a deep breath, flipped off the bathroom light that he hadn't even realized that he had turned on, opened the door, and stepped out.

"Sorry, I had to . . ." Tony trailed off from the excuse that he had readied himself to give to Gibbs. The bed was empty, the sheets were wadded and wrinkled, the pillows showing the impression of their heads, but Gibbs wasn't there.

Tony threw back his head and closed his eyes. "Shit."

* * *

His arm behind his head, Gibbs laid on his back on the couch, staring up at the dark ceiling. What had he been thinking, touching Tony like that? _I wasn't thinking,_ he thought. And he hadn't. All he had been thinking about was the need to touch Tony, to touch him in any way, anywhere.

_God, he felt so good. _And he had. Tony's lips were soft but firm. He had ran his thumb over and over, back and forth, back and forth across his bottom lip and with each turn the desire to see just what Tony tasted like increased tenfold. It had nearly consumed him, and had Tony not shot out of bed like a bat out of hell, he would have leaned in, closing the distance between the two, and finally put his questions to bed once and for all.

And where would they have been then? Gibbs could just imagine the look on Tony's face. What would he have said? _Sorry, I slipped?_ _Ha._ He would have liked to see what that answer had gotten him.

Gibbs frowned suddenly. Tony hadn't done anything to stop him. He had laid there and let Gibbs do it. He had stared at him the whole time, his gaze never breaking, not until he had jumped out of bed like he had. It seemed as though . . . as though he had _enjoyed _it.

_You're reading into things,_ he berated himself. _Just stop. There's no way in hell that he actually enjoyed you touching him like that. He's probably up there, having a coronary trying to figure out what the hell had gotten into his boss to caress his thumb across his lip as he would a lover._

_But what . . . but what if he had? What if he had enjoyed it? Even just a little . . ._

_You're grasping at straws._

_But what if I'm not?_

There were just so many possibilities.

Gibbs closed his eyes, willing himself to go to sleep. After only a few moments, he opened them. Sleep was not happening. Tony and all those possibilities, no matter that ninety-nine point nine percent of them were just wishful thinkings on his part, bombarded his thoughts and he knew if by some miracle he did fall asleep, they would bombard his dreams just as much if not even worse.

He sighed. "Shit."


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey, there, guys. I just wanted to apologize for the extremely long wait. I had planned on uploading more chapters over the Christmas break, but things didn't go to plan. Obviously. I rewrote this particular chapter a couple of times, not really satisfied with what I was coming up with. I'm not 100% happy with it right now, but hopefully it'll do. I hope you all like it! As always, please continue to favorite, follow, and review. Gimme me your reviews! I love 'em. As always, sorry for any grammatical or spelling error; they slipped by me.**

* * *

Gibbs woke to the sound of his cell phone blaring into his ear. He jerked into a sitting position, letting loose a slew of obscenities under his breath, flipped open the phone and bit off: "Gibbs."

There was a moment of hesitation before the person on the other end of the phone said, "And a good morning to you, too, Jethro."

Sighing, he let his head fall back, grimacing when the back of it made contact with hard wood. He'd fallen asleep on the boat. Not bothering to apologize, he said, albeit a little less venomously, "What'd'ya want Fornell?"

"Ooh, Fornell? I did catch you at a bad time. What crawled up your ass and died?"

Clenching his jaw and shaking his head, Gibbs stood and climbed down from the boat, putting a hand to his lower back, pushing hard to make it pop. When it finally did, he sighed with contentment. "What are you calling about, Tobias?"

The man chuckled before he answered. "I heard that DiNotzo had an emergency appendectomy and that you're playing sick nurse. Just wanted to check on you, see how you are handling things."

"I'm not playing sick nurse with Tony . . ."

"Ah, already calling him Tony, are you? Hmm. Have you finally admitted how you feel about him?"

There was nothing but silence.

"I'm going to take that as a no." Fornell sighed, and rolled his eyes, thankful that Gibbs couldn't see him. "Jethro, you seriously need to grow a pair and tell him how you feel. What's the worse that could happen?"

"I could lose him as my Senior Field Agent." A pause. "I could lose his friendship, and I'm not willing to lose his friendship for anything." Another pause. "And don't you dare roll your eyes again."

Fornell sighed and despite Gibbs' warning, rolled his eyes once more. "What happens if he feels the same way about you?"

Letting out a short laugh, Gibbs sat down on the bottom step of the basement stairs. "Tony feel the same way about me? Tony the skirt chaser?" His shoulders shook with cynical laughter. "I have a better chance of finding the damn pot of gold at the end of the rainbow with a leprechaun dancing around it then have Tony DiNozzo, a regular twenty-first century Casanova, feel about me the way I do him."

"You don't see how that boy looks at you when you're not watching him. He worships the ground you walk on. He's ready at your beck and call. Can you honestly say that all Tony sees in you is a father figure? If you say yes, then you're an idiot."

"He doesn't see me as a father figure, he sees me as a _friend_, someone that he can trust, and having someone to trust is very important for him."

"He can still trust you as you're slamming your dick into him. Hell, that'd give him a better reason to do so."

"Fornell!"

There was a long and hard laugh. "Oh, God. My stomach . . . it hurts; I can hardly breathe. Oh, God. I can't stop."

Gibbs fumed as Fornell repeatedly tried to stop the laughter but failed each time miserably.

"If you know what's good for you, Fornell, you'll stop now while you can." Gibbs' voice was low. It wasn't threatening. It was promising.

"Relax, Jethro, relax. Don't blow a fuse." Unable to control himself, he let loose one last short laugh, but quickly sobered up when he heard a low growl from Gibbs. "Sorry."

"So did you just call to get me riled up?"

Fornell chuckled. "No, but it sure is easy as hell to do so . . . when it comes to your boy, Tony that is."

"He's not my boy."

"You'd like him to be."

Gibbs sighed. "Tobias, it's too early to do this. I haven't had my coffee this morning, yet. I didn't sleep well last night . . ."

"Having wet dreams about DiNotzo, Jethro? Aren't you a little too old for those?"

Not willing to dignify the question with an answer, Gibbs said nothing. He glanced at his watch. It read to be just a little after 0700. He wondered if Tony was up yet. He didn't hear anything from upstairs so he doubted it.

"Ah, I'm just having a little fun with you, Jethro. No need for you to get your panties in a wad." Fornell couldn't help but laugh when Gibbs once again growled in anger. "Hey, save that for your boy, not me."

Having enough of Fornell's goading for one morning, Gibbs bit off a "goodbye" and ended the call. Cupping the back of his neck with one hand, he began to massage it with his fingers. His neck hurt from having slept on the boat. He sighed and mumbled to himself about being too old to continue to sleep on floors and dragged himself up the stairs.

The house was quiet. It wasn't quiet in the sense that he was all by himself, but just quiet in the way that the person he was sharing the house with was still asleep. Already, the house felt different. Gibbs felt different just knowing that Tony was upstairs in his bed sleeping . . .

Suddenly, the night before came back to him; he remembered what he had done, and he groaned. _Shit. What the hell am I going to do?_

_You're going to face him, that's what you're going to do._ He was churning with nerves as he walked upstairs and to his bedroom. He slowly opened the door and peaked his head in. Tony was laying on his left side, facing Gibbs' side of the bed, with Gibbs' pillow pulled tightly to his chest with his arms wrapping around it tightly. His mouth was open slightly, his lips forming a small _o_. His breathing was slow and deep, and just as he had when he watched him sleep in the hospital, Gibbs matched his own breathing to Tony's.

It was instinct.

He knew that he had to talk to Tony about last night, but he just didn't know how. Talking had never been his strong point. He didn't know how to start a conversation let alone know the middle and the end of one. He could only hope and pray, though he wasn't necessarily a praying man, that the end wouldn't be Tony being disgusted by him and having nothing to do with him. He hadn't been lying when he told Fornell that the thing he couldn't lose was Tony's friendship; he needed Tony in his life. It didn't matter how. If Tony thought of him as the father figure that he never had-though the thought made Gibbs want to vomit-he could, and would, learn to live with that. If he only saw him as his friend, the person he came to talk to after another break up, that was fine, too. As long as Tony still needed him, everything would be okay.

"You know, it's kind of weird to wake up to someone staring at you with whom you didn't just have amazing, mind blowing sex with the night before." Tony rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with the tips of his fingers and stretched his whole body slightly. He felt his bones pop and his muscles stretch; it was a nice feeling. "Or did we have such amazing, mind blowing sex that I can't remember it?" He chuckled.

"If you and I had sex, you would remember it." His lips twitched and fell into the famous Gibbs' smirk. "Believe me."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Cocky aren't ya?"

Gibbs grinned, crossed his arms over his chest, shrugged a shoulder. "No. Just stating a fact."

They both said nothing and both of them mentally berated themselves for starting and egging the sexual conversation on. The moment of silence became long minutes, neither one of them knowing what to do or say to make the awkwardness disappear.

Gibbs cleared his throat. "Hmm. Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"

Thankful for the change, Tony nodded. "Starvin' here, Boss." He paused. "Wait. You know how to fix something other than steaks?" A corner of his mouth twitched upward and his green eyes lit with laughter.

Pushing himself away from the doorjamb, Gibbs unfolded his arms. "Doesn't take too much to fix scrambled eggs. I can fix toast."

"Without burning it? Hey, that's an accomplishment," Tony joked.

Gibbs laughed. "Whatever, DiNozzo. It'll be ready in about ten."

Tony threw his legs over the side of the bed and went to stand up.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Tony froze, looked over at Gibbs who stood watching him with narrowed eyes. "Uh, I was going to take a leak and then I was going to head downstairs to see this miracle you talk about not burning toast?"

"No. You're going to take a leak and then get back into bed. The doc said that it was going to at least take you a week or two for you to really start feeling like getting up and walking around and you haven't even been out of the hospital two days yet."

"I feel fine, Gibbs. My side aches a little bit, but that's it, I promise."

Gibbs shook his head adamantly. "No. I don't care. I'm not risking you injuring yourself while you're recovering. You're staying in that damn bed for at least five more days if I have to handcuff you to it."

"That's a little hinky, don't ya think, Gibbs?"

"Don't test me, DiNozzo."

Tony sighed. "Look, I'll make a deal with you. If you let me come downstairs, I'll stay on the couch the entire time. The only time I'll get up is to go to the head. Then, tonight, when I'm ready to go to sleep you can cart me back up here where I'll stay until in the morning. I can't stay up here by myself all day. I'll go crazy."

Gibbs sighed. "Alright. I'll agree to that, but," he held up a hand as Tony went to stand up, "you have to agree that you'll take the painkillers that Dr. Hepburn prescribed to you."

"That's not fair, Gibbs, you know how those things make me act . . ."

"Take it or leave it, DiNozzo."

The two men stared at each other, neither one refusing to give, but both knowing who in the end would. It was inevitable. Tony sighed and hung head. "Fine. Whatever." He turned to look over at Gibbs and pointed an accusing finger. "But when I start spouting off weird ass shit and refuse to shut up, don't come crying to me. You're glutton for punishment, Gibbs, and don't say I didn't give you fair warning."

Gibbs' lips twitched into a smirk. "I think I can handle it."

Tony snorted. "Yeah. Just you wait."

* * *

"So how long are you going to be babysitting me? I mean, when are you going back to work," Tony called out to Gibbs who was breaking the egg yolk in a frying pan with a fork to make the scrambled eggs . . . Tony's favorite way of eating them.

"Wednesday," he answered.

Tony stretched out onto the couch. "Vance knows what's going on?"

"Yeah."

"When did you talk to him?"

Tony heard the frying pan rattle slightly as Gibbs pushed it around the eye "One of the many times you were knocked out, dead to the world."

"And he doesn't have a problem with it?"

There was a pause. "Why should he?"

Tony shrugged. "Guess I thought he would say something like 'he's a big boy, he can take care of himself' or something like that. Are you almost done in there? I'm starving."

Gibbs, finishing the eggs, grabbed a couple of plates and scrapped the eggs onto the plates, making Tony's sizably larger. He grabbed a loaf of bread and pulled out four pieces, sliding two into the toaster, pushing down, and waiting for them to pop back up when they were done; and as he buttered them, he repeated the process.

"What do you want to drink?" he called out to Tony after he had buttered the final two pieces of toast.

"Milk. OJ. Coffee. It doesn't matter. Whatever you want."

When Gibbs came out he was efficiently handling the two plates, one gripped in his hand with the other balanced on his arm like waiters did, with his fingers on his other hand looped between the handles of the two coffee cups. As he came around to the couch, he nodded his head at the plate and cup of coffee that was meant for Tony. He took both of them with a wide DiNozzo grin.

"Well. Look at the five star service we have here." He looked down at his plate and then back up meaningfully at Gibbs. "Am I supposed to eat with my hands?"

"You can if you want, but I'm eating with a fork." He pulled two forks wrapped in napkins out from his sweatpants pockets.

Tony started to reach for one but Gibbs jerked back his hand and grinned. Tony stared at him for a moment and shook his head in amusement when Gibbs once again held out the fork, this time his palm wide open with the fork laying horizontally across, but once again when Tony started to reach for the fork, Gibbs snapped his palm close and snatched back his hand.

"Damn it, Gibbs," Tony chuckled. "I'm starving. Let me eat my eggs and toast before they get so damn cold that there would be a great possibility of me chipping a tooth." He was amused, and he wondered what had gotten into Gibbs to act the way he was.

This time when he held out the fork to Tony, Gibbs didn't snap it out of his reach. Instead, he smirked when Tony grabbed for the fork and snapped it out of his hand so fast even if Gibbs had wanted to tease him more, he doubted he would have been able to jerk his hand out of the way in time. As Tony dug into his eggs in that ravenous, half-starved way that he was sure only Tony could do, Gibbs sat down at the other end of the couch, forking a mouthful of scrambled eggs into his mouth.

"As good as this is," Tony said between his chewing, "this isn't going to keep me satisfied for long."

Gibbs took a long swallow his coffee, sighing audibly, relaxed now that he had caffeine in his system. "It'll do you for now. You'll probably knock out after you take those painkillers. Couple of hours at least, and then when you wake up, I'll have lunch ready for you."

Tony moaned at the back of his throat as he took a sip of his coffee. His eyes widened slightly as he found the coffee tasting not like the bitter black that Gibbs like, but the rather sweet, hazlenutty way that he liked. _What in God's name has gotten into him_, Tony thought. "Aw, c'mon, Gibbs. Do I really have to? I don't really need the meds, I'm not that sore." He was lying. He knew it. Gibbs knew it. And he knew that Gibbs knew that he was lying. It was a vicious circle of "he-knows-that-I-know-that-he-knows-that-I-know".

"Drop and give me twenty."

Tony's green eyes flashed in contempt. He knew he was beat. There was no getting around it. "Fuck it," he muttered, tearing off a piece of toast.

Stifling a chuckle, Gibbs finished his eggs and toast and coffee.

"Let's get this over with."

Gibbs glanced over at Tony who sat, slightly turned toward him with his left leg pulled under him and his arms crossed angrily over his chest.

"Damn, Tony, it's not the end of the world."

"Whatever."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, and reached into his pocket and grabbed the bottle of pills. He started to hand it over for Tony to open it and get the required number when he saw at the corner of his mouth, there was a small piece of egg at the corner of his mouth. And just as he hadn't been thinking last night, he reached over and used his thumb to swipe it away.

Tony didn't have time to stop himself. He couldn't think. Instinctively, when Gibbs' thumb touched the corner of his lips, his mouth opened wide enough to take capture the thumb and he sucked on it. His eyes fluttered closed, and he sucked . . . one . . . two . . . three . . . It wasn't until he heard the strangled moan that he finally snapped out of his daze and realized just what he was doing and to whom. His mouth popped open, and Gibbs' thumb fell out of his mouth, but instead of jerking it away as Tony had expected for him to do, it stayed there pressing into Tony's bottom lip.

Forcing himself to do so, Tony swallowed hard and looked into Gibbs' eyes. He was shocked to see what he did and he blinked several times to make sure that he was indeed seeing what he was and that it wasn't his own sexually induced haze that was making him see things. No. It wasn't his imagination. Gibbs' usually baby blues were cloudy and dark . . . dark with a desire that no one could mistake. And it was for him. That look was _because_ of him.

"Gibb . . ." Tony began, but was cut off as his dreams became reality and Gibbs crushed their lips together.

The kiss was hard and needy. It was as though they both needed to feel everything every moment just so that they knew that every moment everything they were doing was real. Not a dream. Reality.

Gibbs licked at Tony's bottom lip, asking, begging for entrance, and when Tony gave it to him, he moaned deep at the back his throat, one hand grabbed at the back of Tony's head, pushing their lips harder together, bruising them, then with his other hand he cupped the side of his face, keeping him locked into place. Tony tasted of their breakfast, the hazelnut coffee, something that Gibbs would never drink willingly, tasted sweet on Tony's tongue. Again, he moaned.

Tony could feel his heart hammering as he let one hand fall to Gibbs side while the other ran behind his back and pulled him closer, their chests now touching, Gibbs practically on top of him.

When they could no longer ignore their lungs' cry for oxygen, Tony pulled away, and immediately pressed them to Gibbs' neck. Tony could feel his pulse. It was erratic and jumped beneath his lips. He smiled. He was the cause of that erratic beating. He felt a certain power course through his veins as he realized that he had made an usually unflappable man lose his iron tight clasp on his control. He nipped at the soft flesh, grinning when he heard the moan.

"T-Tony," Gibbs sighed. He squeezed his eyes shut and pushed at the fog that was clouding his brain. He was going to say something, he was going to do something, but for the life of him he couldn't remember anything. All he could feel was Tony's hands running up and down his side and back, his lips on his skin. He was in a state of euphoria and he never wanted it to end.

And for several more moments he didn't. Neither of them did. They allowed their hands and lips to roam and touch places that they thought that neither one of them would be able to touch. When they mutually decided without a word spoken between them that perhaps they should slow down for a moment-just long enough to catch their breaths before they began again, they pulled slightly away from each other and scrutinized each other openly, judging the other's reactions as they were able to finally think now that the fog was lifting from both of their brains.

Gibbs didn't see disgust.

Tony didn't see regret.

They both saw desire. Longing.

Gibbs breathed in deeply and then let it out slowly between his teeth.

Tony's lips twitched and soon they were spread into the most dazzling DiNozzo smile he had to offer.

"That . . ." Gibbs began, but stopped, unsure of just what words to use that would rightly justify his feelings at the momen.

Tony nodded, understanding perfectly. "Yeah."

And, then, they thought: _What now?_


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey, there, guys. Here's a new chapter for you (a longer one, too). I enjoyed writing it, and this one came to me a lot easier than the previous one. I hope you all enjoy it. Please continue to follow, favorite, and review. Give me them reviews; I love to hear from you all!**

* * *

The two men sat across from each other, Tony on the couch and Gibbs sitting in the chair. They had been sitting there, not a single word passing between them, for close to an hour. Several times Tony had started to say something, and Gibbs would look at him expectantly, but in the end Tony would close his mouth and slightly shake his head.

The air was thick with nerves and uncertainty.

Gibbs knew that he needed to say something, knew that if he didn't Tony never would. As much as the man could talk, when he didn't want to, he could be worse than Gibbs at not saying anything. And no matter how much Tony might not want to, as much as _he_ might not want to, Gibbs knew that this was something that they would have to discuss. They couldn't just ignore it and pretend that it never happened . . . at least, he couldn't.

"How long?"

Tony voiced the question in a soft murmur. So soft that Gibbs wondered how he had heard it. The fact that he had said anything at all shocked Gibbs. He shifted nervously in the chair. "How long what?"

For a brief moment, Tony flicked his eyes to look at Gibbs, but then quickly looked back down at his hands. Gibbs watched Tony flex his fingers. He waited for him to say something.

"How long have you wanted to do that? To kiss me?" Tony looked up at Gibbs and this time he didn't look back down.

_The moment of truth_, Gibbs thought as he said, "For a while. A long while." He saw an emotion flash in Tony's green eyes, but it disappeared too quickly for him to get a read on just what emotion it was. "Boston."

Tony's brow furrowed. "Boston? That's ten years . . ." A shy smile curved his lips. "You've wanted to kiss me for ten years?"

_Among other things_. "Yes."

"That's a long time. A long time of wanting, and waiting, to kiss someone."

"I know." He wanted to say that he would wait forever if he had to, but it was too cheesy. "I had nothing better to do."

Tony laughed. "You had nothing better to do than to wait for ten years for us to kiss?"

Gibbs nodded.

The shy smile forgotten, Tony's lips stretched into a full blown DiNozzo grin. "That's sweet."

Unable to hold his infamous gaze with Tony any longer, he bowed his head and concentrated on making sure he didn't blush. It didn't work.

"Did you know that it's physically impossible for you to stop yourself from blushing?"

Gibbs coked his head slightly to the side. He smirked. _Two can play this game_, he thought. "How long have you wanted to do that?"

Tony shrugged a shoulder, looked down at his clasped hands lying listlessly in his lap. He cleared his throat. "Not as long as you have," he admitted. "It took me about a year to realize that I had feelings for you . . . just what kind, I wasn't sure. It took me another year to realize that I was . . . that I had feelings for you that was more than friendship and a hell of a lot more than what an employee feels for his boss . . ." He blushed furiously.

"Did you know it is physically impossible to stop yourself from blushing?" Gibbs smirked.

Tony threw back his head and laughed. It was a deep, loud laugh, straight from the belly. It was warm and full of life. It didn't matter how many times he had heard it over the years, Gibbs could never get enough of it. Tony's laugh, his smile, his eyes, his never-ending movie references . . . everything that was Tony, Gibbs loved. That's not to say that he didn't get annoyed as hell sometimes with Tony, but he never change anything about Tony because then he wouldn't be Tony. And Gibbs didn't want anyone else.

Gibbs snapped out of reverie when he heard Tony sigh deeply and voice the question that had both been plaguing their minds: "What are we going to do now?"

Gibbs ran his hand over his mouth, thinking. Over the ten years that he had known Tony, he had gone from almost irrepressible desire and thinking that just one fuck was all he needed to quench the desire to a friend and all he wanted was for Tony to be happy. Never, not once, had he disillusioned himself. Never, not once, had he thought that he and Tony could be a he and Tony, make a life together. Sleeping in the mornings, waking up in each other's arms, arguing over whether they should have pizza or Chinese for dinner . . . loving one another. He hadn't dared dreamed about it, much less think about it because he had known it was all unattainable.

Or so he had thought.

What if he could have all of that with Tony? What if they could have so much more-together? Tony said he had feelings for him-had for years, but just how far did those feelings go? Did Tony love him? If he didn't could he grow to? Gibbs knew that you couldn't make someone fall in love with you. Love just didn't work that way. It wasn't how how it wasn't supposed to work anyways.

But-but could he show Tony that he-Leroy Jethro Gibbs-was everything he needed? That it wouldn't be the end of the world if he fall in love with him . . . but rather the beginning?

He sure as hell was going to try.

Starting now.

Pushing himself up from the chair, he slowly made his way to Tony. An amused smile play with Gibbs' lips as he watched the green eyes widen slightly, scrutinizing his every move. Tony's tongue flicked out to trail across his bottom lip; the tongue retreated, and his bottom lip glistened.

Lowering himself next to Tony on the couch, Gibbs slowly reached out his hand and, just as he had the night before, ran his thumb back and forth, back and forth, over and over across the soft lip. He felt Tony let out a long, deep sigh. Green eyes disappeared behind closed eyelids, and Gibbs took the opportunity to gaze at him unabashedly.

"Do you know how much I wanted you to kiss me last night," Tony murmured, his lips moving up and down under Gibbs thumb.

"No. I didn't." He paused. "And the way you jumped out of bed like a bat out of hell, I got the idea that the last thing you wanted me to do was touch you, let alone kiss you."

Tony chuckled softly. "Yeah. It's not that I didn't want you to touch me because believe me when I say I wanted your hands all over me, but I, uh, got a little _too_ excited last night. If you had kissed me, it would have been extremely awkward considering neither one of us knew how the other felt."

Gibbs stopped caressing Tony's lip, and moved his hand around Tony's neck, cupping it. Tony's eyes slowly fluttered open. He looked deeply into Gibbs' blue eyes and his breath caught in his throat. _If only he would always look at me like that_, Gibbs thought.

"I guess it's a good thing we now know how each other feels then."

Tony nodded, unable to say anything because of the sudden lump that had appeared at the base of his throat. He tried to swallow but to no avail.

His eyes wide open, Gibbs pulled Tony toward him. They both stared at each other, neither one of them closing their eyes until gently, ever so gently, their lips touched.

Whereas their first kiss had been hard and hungry, this kiss was slow. It was about discovery. What did Gibbs like, what did Tony like? It was about touching. Tony's hands fell to Gibbs' waist and pulled him closer; he needed him closer. It was about expressing. They both had difficulties in sharing themselves with others, talking; with this kiss they didn't need to talk to express how they felt. It really was all in the kiss.

Gibbs felt as though his body was humming. He changed the angle of the kiss, and inwardly smiled at the sound of Tony's moan. He slid his fingers into Tony's hair at the back of his head to hold him in place. Tony ran his tongue over Gibbs' bottom lip, and slowly, Gibbs opened for him. Their tongues didn't fight for dominance; they wrapped around each other and swayed together-it was a dance.

At last, they broke apart from each other, and though the kiss hadn't been rushed, they still breathed hard, their chests moving up and down, their breaths matching each others.

Tony closed his eyes and sighed deeply. A satisfied smile curved his lips. "That," he murmured, shaking his head slightly. "That was . . ."

"Amazing." Gibbs interjected. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to Tony's neck, flicking his tongue out to lay it over the erratic pulse. Tony shivered. His hands still on Gibbs' waist, he pulled him even closer, leaning back into the couch until Gibbs was practically on top of him.

"Mindblowing."

"Unbelievable."

Tony practically purred when he pushed his hands under Gibbs' shirt, and felt the trapped body heat. He touched Gibbs with the tips of fingers, just grazing the skin. Gibbs shivered at the prickly sensation that shot down his spine. He pressed his face deeper into the curve of Tony's neck and growled. Tony smiled. He trailed his fingers up and down the back, following Gibbs' spine, feeling the contours, his spine, the dip at the small of his back. Tony continued to trail his fingers down Gibbs' back until they reached the waistband of his sweatpants.

He stopped.

Encouragingly, Gibbs pushed himself up a little causing the tips of Tony's fingers to slip under the waistband. Tony got the hint, and pressed his palms fully down against Gibbs and ran them all the way down until each hand held a firm cheek. His fingers began to knead Gibbs' ass, his fingers strong but gentle.

Gibbs melted into Tony.

Turning his head down, Tony whispered in Gibbs ear, his breath warm, "Do you like that?"

Unable to say anything, Gibbs moaned.

Tony chuckled, pleased with himself. "Good." His fingers continued the massage.

Gibbs lost track of time. He didn't know how long he laid on top of Tony. He didn't know how long the younger man's dexterous fingers altered between massaging his ass and trailing across his back, memorizing the heat and contours of his back through touch. All he could think about was the pleasure that was coursing through his bloodstream, making him warm. He didn't seem to mind the fact that though he had initiated the kissing and the touching, that Tony had taken over.

It felt good to let someone else be in charge for a little while.

"If you're going to fall asleep, get off of me first," Tony murmured in his ear.

Gibbs fluttered his eyes open, blinking them rapidly, forcing himself to keep the sleep heavy lids open. The realization that he was laying _on top_ of Tony finally hit and he quickly pushed himself up onto his hands and knees.

"Damn it, Tony! Why didn't you say anything before now? How long have I been on top of you? Are you okay?" He paused and narrowed his eyes at Tony. "What's so funny, DiNozzo?"

Tony's green eyes danced with amusement and his lips twitched with suppressed laughter. He fought valiantly to push away the laughter, but he failed and burst out laughing, his warm hazelnut coffee breath hitting Gibbs face. Involuntarily, Gibbs breathed in deeply.

"What's so damn funny?"

Tony pulled Gibbs head down for a quick, hard kiss before saying, "You. I'm not going to break. You weren't hurting me. I was too concentrated on how good it felt, you laying on top of me, than thinking about pain. If I hadn't been able to handle it, I would've pushed your heavy ass of me," Tony teased. "And you'd be down for the count."

Still angry with himself that he hadn't even thought about Tony's condition, Gibbs pushed himself into a sitting position. He started to move to the end of the couch, but Tony grabbed hold of his arm, pulling himself up. "Please don't do that," he murmured. His green eyes were soft and pleading.

"Do what?" Gibbs asked.

"Pull away. Don't think. Don't start to over analyze everything. Please. Just think of how good it felt. How much you wanted it to go on forever. Don't pull away from me. Not now. Not after this."

Touched, and ultimately saddened that Tony thought he was pulling away from him, Gibbs cupped the right side of his face, his thumb flicking Tony's earlobe. His brow furrowed. "I'm not pulling away from you, Tony. I swear." He paused, trying to find the right words to express the feelings that were churning in the pit of his stomach. "I-I just don't want to hurt you. It hurts me to see _you_ hurt."

Tony's shoulders sagged as the weight of all his worries and doubts about what was happening were lifted off of them. He framed Gibbs' face with his hands, and pulled him down to place a light kiss on his lips. When he lifted his mouth away, he pressed their foreheads together. He said nothing. He had nothing to say because he had said it all in that one simple gesture.

_I love you_ threatened to spill across Gibbs lips, but he pinched his mouth together, refusing to let the words pass. _Not yet_, he thought. _Not yet. Soon._

"Gibbs," Tony whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Are we really going to try this?"

Pulling back, he gazed at Tony. "I want to. Do you?"

Tony nodded.

"Then that's exactly what we're going to do."

A small, thankful DiNozzo smile touched the corners of his lips. His eyes fluttered close. He sighed contentedly. "I don't mean to destroy the mood or anything, but I can't seem to keep my eyes open. They're really heavy . . ."

Gibbs pushed Tony's hair back from his forehead. "You're tired. Sleep. Do you want to sleep here or do you want me to help you upstairs?"

There was no answer. Tony's breaths were already laden with sleep. He shifted his head and burrowed it in the corner where the armrest met the couch.

With Tony asleep, Gibbs allowed himself to gaze down at him with all the love that he felt for the man. Rising from the couch, he began to clear the plates and forks and cups, placing them in the sink, rinsing them quickly with water. He returned to the living room, and with arms crossed loosely over his chest, he watched the younger man sleep for a while.

Pushing himself away from the doorframe that connected the kitchen and the living room, he went to the couch and leaned down to softly kiss Tony on the head. "I love you, Tony," he whispered across the skin on Tony's forehead. Tony snuggled deeper into the couch, again sighing with contentment.

Needing to think, Gibbs went down to the basement to work on the boat. As he sanded parts of the hull, a task that he had done so many times over the year that it had become second nature to him and he didn't have to concentrate, he could just feel the direction in which the wood moved, he allowed himself to dream about the future.

A realist in all accounts of his life, Gibbs' dreams were filled with optimism because in all his dreams, he and Tony were in love and, something that realist scoffed at, living happily ever after.

"Please," he murmured, running the palm of his hand over the increasingly smooth wood of the boat. "Please."

* * *

Tony woke up to the smell of grilled cheese and tomato soup. Or rather, his stomach awoke to the smell of the food.

Not wanting to move an inch, his body stayed at rest and his eyes stayed close. He could feel his stomach rumbling but his aching side won the battle and he wasn't moving for anything. Tony hadn't lied when he had told Gibbs that when he was laying on top of him that he hadn't felt anything but the pleasure of Gibbs' hard, lithe body on his . . . but now the repercussions were coming into play with a vengeance. Twofold.

"You're awake."

Tony peeked out from under his eyelashes. "How did you know I was awake?"

"I could hear your stomach growling."

Laughing, he forced himself up into a sitting position, keeping his face devoid of the pain that struck into his side. He chuckled through it and said, "The DiNozzo Curse. We're all bottomless pits. And we'll give away government secrets for a cowboy steak, with cheese potatoes, and a salad," he hinted.

Having gone back into the kitchen to get the bowls of tomato soup, Gibbs laughed as he handed one of bowls to Tony, setting his on the coffee table, and then going back for the grilled cheese and bottle of Powerade for Tony and water for him.

They sat in comfortable silence while they ate. The two men had known each too long-had been friends for too long-to get uncomfortable with the silence, even Tony who had, as Gibbs liked to call it, Diarrhea of the Mouth-sadly, it was a chronic condition and no one had yet to discover a cure for it, had no nervous desire to cover up the silence with his random-but to him _very_ interesting-movie references.

Tony dunked his last bite of grilled cheese into his tomato soup and popped into his mouth with gusto. He drawled out an "mmmmm-hmmmmm" sound at the back of his throat. "You keep surprising me, Gibbs."

Swallowing back a gulp of water, Gibbs cocked an eyebrow. "How so?"

"I didn't realize you knew how to cook anything other than the standard cowboy steak and the trimmings to go along with it. Yet, here I am, for the second time today, eating a Leroy Jethro Gibbs delicacy."

Gibbs laughed loudly, and Tony thought as he always did when Gibbs truly laughed and let himself go-and that was few and far between-that he had a sweet laugh. It reminded Tony of how a little boy would laugh, and this insight always colored Gibbs in a new perspective for him.

"Anyone can fix toast and eggs for breakfast, same goes for a grilled cheese, and hell all you do for tomato soup is pop open a can, pour, heat, and stir. Not rocket science, Tony."

Tony shrugged a shoulder as he spooned some of the creamy tomato soup into his mouth. He liked the feeling of it running down the back of his throat and how it warmed his chest and stomach on its descent. "Don't sell yourself short there, Gibbs. My mother, as lovely and smart and talented as she was, couldn't even boil water without burning it."

Gibbs smiled. Tony didn't willingly share too much information about his family, and his mother was a topic that he never touched on. Whereas he had kept Shannon and Kelly a secret for a long time, Tony took it to a whole new level with his mother. So much so, Gibbs wasn't even aware of her name.

"I guess Emeril should start watch his back, then," Gibbs joked. Done with his soup, he placed the empty bowl on the table and then turned to face Tony.

"Yep. He'll even have to come up with a new catchphrase, too."

"Do I look like a guy that would go around saying 'bam' all the time?"

Tony shook his head, ate a spoonful of soup, swallowed. "No. You're more of a-" he paused and his green eyes perused up Gibbs' body slowly. "'Bang' kind of guy." He smiled devilishly. "A big bang."

Rolling his eyes, Gibbs reached for the now empty bowl that Tony was handing him, grabbed his own bowl and the paper plates that he had put the grilled cheeses on and went to the kitchen to throw away the plates and add the bowls to the dirty morning dishes. He noted that he would have to wash them before dinner that night.

He went and sat back down on the couch, his back leaning against the crook between where the couch and the armrest met, and giving Tony a sly look, took hold of his hand and tugged lightly at him. Realizing what Gibbs wanted, Tony smiled sweetly and situated himself between Gibbs' open legs and leaned back against Gibbs' chest. Arms were immediately wrapped around his shoulders.

Tony sighed. "This is nice."

Gibbs rubbed the side of face into Tony's hair. He closed his eyes and his tense muscles relaxed. "It does."

Taking Gibbs' right hand, Tony stretched out the arm and linked their fingers together, and began to play with their entwined fingers. "I liked when you did this the first night in the hospital."

"You liked what?"

"This. Our fingers intertwined. I woke up that first night and I freaked because I had thought I had done it in my sleep. I was worried about what you would do when you woke up and found them that way."

"I wouldn't have done anything." A pause. "I wouldn't have done anything because I'm the one that did it."

Tony gasped. "I knew I hadn't done that in my sleep! I just knew it!" Gibbs bit down on Tony's earlobe-hard-chuckling when the young man bucked and then hissed in pain. "Hey, watch that! Damn your teeth are sharp."

"You know you liked it." And to prove his point, he did it again, but this time before Tony could protest, he slipped his tongue out and ran it over the spot that he had nipped. Tony shivered. Gibbs chuckled. "See."

"You're playing dirty, Gibbs."

"Jethro."

Tony, having gone back to playing with their entwined hands, drawled out a "hmmm" from the back of his throat.

"We're not at work. Call me Jethro." He kissed the sensitive area right below the ear, committing to memory the sweet smell that was Tony and the way he shivered. Finding all of Tony's hot spots was going to be so much fun, and it seemed as though he had a lot of them. "Say my name, Tony. Say my name."

Leaning his head back, he looked up into the baby blues that were gazing down at him. There was so much emotion there, but he couldn't read them all. He hoped that one of them was love. He knew that Gibbs wanted him, lusted after him, but could Tony dare hope that Gibbs could ever grow to love him? He could try. Tony's hooded eyes traveled down to Gibbs' mouth. He remembered how they felt against his, how they had moved with his. Gibbs' kisses stole his breath away and set him on fire. They bruised his. They consumed him.

Going back to Gibbs' eyes, Tony searched them for a long time before he whispered, "Jethro."

At the sound of name coming off of Tony's lips, Gibbs crashed his mouth to Tony's and gave and received and begged.

The kiss consumed them both.


	10. Chapter 10

**Well, here we are with a new chapter (a much longer chapter, too). I hope you guys like it. :) As always, please forgive me of any grammar or spelling mistakes; they slipped by me. Please continue to do all that you guys do, especially those reviews. I love reviews. Also, I don't know how many chapters this bad boy will have, but I'm thinking around fifteen will suffice very well, so things will definitely be starting to pick up (just in case any of you think that this is going really slow. I like to go slow because it seems more real to me, but I don't like things going _too _slow, so I think now is definitely a good time to speed things along). I'll hopefully have another chapter up sooner than I've been doing, but I don't know exactly when that'll be. Thanks to everyone that reviews this and favorites my story and me; I really do appreciate all of it. So, without further ado . . .**

* * *

Tony woke up to the pressure pushing down on his bladder. Sighing, he slowly peeled one eye lid open, scrutinized his surroundings to find that he was alone in Gibbs' room, then opened the other. The light that poured through the window was bright, but a majority of it was blocked off due to the dark curtains hanging in the windows. Lifting his arms above his head, Tony stretched, then carefully pushed himself into an upright position, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, and stood.

His side twinged, but the pain was brief and minimum, really nothing more than a good, hard pinch. He padded into the bathroom, not bothering to shut the door or turn on the light, and quickly relieved himself. After he finished, he scrubbed his hands with soap and water, dried them off, and went downstairs.

Gibbs was neither in the living room nor in the kitchen, so assuming that he was in the basement, Tony went to stand at the top of the stairs, but found it empty. Furrowing his brows, he turned back to the kitchen and pulled a glass from the cabinet and poured himself some orange juice. Scanning the table and counter for a note from Gibbs explaining his absence from over the rim of his glass, he found nothing.

Of course Gibbs wouldn't have left one since Tony wasn't supposed to come down the stairs by himself . . .

Finishing off the OJ, Tony quickly washed the glass and set it back in the cabinet and hightailed it as fast as he could back upstairs. He wanted to kiss Gibbs passionately and for Gibbs to kiss him passionately back, not get Gibbs so pissed at him he wouldn't say a damn word to him forever how long he decided and spend all day in the basement working on the boat.

Crawling back into bed, Tony laid on his back and wondered how long Gibbs had been gone and when he would be back. And because he had nothing better to do, he thought about yesterday.

It had finally happened. Everything that he had wanted and desired and _needed_ had finally happened. Gibbs knew how he felt, and instead of him transferring Tony or firing him, or worse of all, taking away his friendship, he had in fact _returned_ Tony's feelings. He had felt the same way about Tony as Tony did about Gibbs and that . . . that was more important and more amazing than all of his past Christmases, birthdays, and drunken frat parties all rolled into one. He felt as though he were a different person, a _better_ person by finally allowing Gibbs to know how he felt and having the feelings reciprocated.

It was probably corny, and most definitely cliché, but he didn't give a damn. Tony loved Gibbs and Gibbs . . .

Tony frowned. Did Gibbs love him? They hadn't said anything about that yesterday. He simply hadn't because he had been too wrapped up in the fact that he was _wrapped up_ in Gibbs' arms. And Gibbs hadn't said anything about it because . . . Tony groaned. Who the hell knew why Gibbs hadn't mentioned it.

_He probably didn't mention it because he doesn't feel that way about you._ _Desire? Check. Lust? Check. Love? Not applicable._

Sighing, Tony rubbed a hand down his face roughly. _Don't think about that, _he ordered himself. _Think about the way your skin felt hot with Gibbs' hands on it, think about how his lips molded against yours perfectly, how his body heat had radiated off his skin . . ._

Tony thought about yesterday so well, he felt his body start to tremble and felt his cock harden. He threw the covers off of his legs and slipped his hand under the waistband of his sweatpants and slowly began to stroke it.

Picturing that it was it was Gibbs' hand pumping his cock instead of his own, Tony bit his bottom lip and moaned.

Oh, God, what would it feel like to have Gibbs' hands on him like this? Surprisingly, while his fingers were calloused because of working with his hands so much, Tony had found the palms of Gibbs' hands to be smooth and gentle and soft when he had entwined their fingers together, their palms laying flat against each other, just before Gibbs had told him-asked him-to call him Jethro.

The thought of Gibbs telling Tony to call him Jethro then led to memory of the soul-consuming kiss that they had shared right after and _that_ caused Tony's hips to thrust up and down, his cock to slide inside the palm of his hand, and for it to begin leaking precum. Using the thumb of the hand that he was using to jerk himself off with, he smeared the precum over the tip of his cock which fueled the tickling sensation at the base of his spine that had slowly had been letting its appearance be known increase dramatically to the point where Tony's breaths were coming in and going out in short huffs.

"Shit, yes." He squeezed his eyes shut, continuing to rock his hips up and down.

"I hope you're going to let me join in on this."

Opening his eyes, Tony caught sight of Gibbs standing with his legs spread and his fingers flexing-open, close; open, close-with his mouth drawn into a tight line and his blue eyes dark with desire. Tony pumped his cock faster, harder, and his hips gave an erratic jerk.

Taking that as a _yes_, Gibbs slowly walked to the edge of the bed, toeing off his shoes along the way, and then when his knees made contact with the bed, crawled up to lay by Tony's side.

"Like what you see?" Tony huffed out.

The question was rhetorical because it was obvious by the dilated pupils, flaring nostrils, and erratic breathing that Gibbs liked what he was seeing. That he liked it a lot.

"Do you just want to watch?" Needing more friction, that extra _something_, Tony tightened his hold and reached down with his other hand and gave a short tug on his balls. The tickling sensation that had been forming at his lower back shot up directly through his spine and Tony shuddered as his blood warmed in his veins.

Gibbs moaned at the sight of Tony throwing back his head, leaving his throat exposed, arching his back off the bed, and closing his eyes as his body reveled in all the sensations that was coursing through out him. Needing to taste Tony, Gibbs latched his mouth onto Tony's neck and began a heady combination of kissing, nipping, biting, and licking; it drove Tony wild.

"Fuck," he moaned and his hips jerked, his hand sliding up and down his cock faster, his fingers tightening their hold on it. As Gibbs continued the assault on his neck, Tony cried out, "Harder, Jethro, harder." And when Gibbs complied to Tony's demand, he moaned, "Yes. Just like that. Yes."

Trailing his lips up to Tony's ear, Gibbs whispered, "Do you have any idea how _bad_ I want to fuck you right now? If you still weren't recuperating, I'd have my cock so far up your ass, you'd feel like you were splitting in two, but then I'd pull back really slow and then slam into you. Over. And over. And over. You'd feel like you were dying; the feelings would feel too good, and you'd beg for me to cum, and I would. We would cum together. And we'd feel like we were dying together." He nipped Tony's earlobe hard causing Tony to hiss in pain, but then sigh with pleasure as Gibbs forked out his tongue and slowly run it over the spot that he'd bitten. "But we wouldn't die. We'd live to do it all again. And again. And again."

"Gibbs. Please."

"Please what?"

"Make me cum."

Gibbs smirked as he snuck a hand under Tony's shirt, snaking it over the man's stomach, feeling the tight muscles that stretched the taunt golden skin, up to his chest where his fingers combed through what he knew was dark chest hair, searching for a nipple. When he found one, he squeezed it, eliciting a gasp from Tony.

After playing with Tony's nipple for a few more moments, he trailed his hand back down, stopping when he got to Tony's midriff, right at the waistband of his sweatpants. He didn't go any further.

"Don't play with me, Jethro. Please."

Gibbs chuckled lightly. "But I like to play with you."

Tony began to stroke his cock faster. If Gibbs wanted to play games, he could play games. "Then I'll just make myself cum. It won't take much more for me to do it. I'm so close . . ."

"Don't you dare," Gibbs growled as he crushed his mouth to Tony's while simultaneously shoving his hand down the sweatpants, batting Tony's hand away, and grabbing onto his cock. His strokes were firm and fast and . . . right.

His lungs screaming for air, Tony tore his mouth out from under Gibbs'. "Fuck!" he roared as he threw back his head with his eyes squeezed shut; his face glowed with ecstasy. "So close, Jethro. So close," he murmured. "Make me cum."

"Not just yet," Gibbs whispered. He slowed his hand down, loosened his grip, and slid down to Tony's waist, and pulled down his sweatpants with one hand. Tony's cock, hard and aroused, sprung out, nearly hitting Gibbs in the face. Gibbs continued with the slow . . . steady . . . pace.

The cool air hit Tony's cock and the hairs on his arms stood straight up. He gasped when he felt Gibbs' lips press against the underside of his cock. "W-what are you doing?"

Sticking out his tongue, Gibbs ran a straight line up the underside of his cock until he reached the head. He swirled the tip of his tongue around it, pushed it slightly into the slit, then pulled out. "If you don't know what I'm doing, then I must be doing it wrong."

_The last thing you're doing is doing it wrong_, Tony thought. "Are you sure about this?"

In answer, Gibbs swallowed the head of Tony's cock and sucked hard on it while he ran his right hand up and down the length of it, smooth and steady and firm.

"Motherfuck!" Tony nearly cummed right then and there, but miraculously he was able to hold himself back. His body shuddered violently as Gibbs slowly . . . tortuously . . . slid further down his cock, his cheeks hollowing in and out as he sucked, until finally, he had every bit of Tony's cock in his mouth.

His stomach muscles spasmed, and unable to control himself, he threaded his fingers into Gibbs' silver hair and began to push his head even further, his hips rocking off the bed, and even deeper into Gibbs' throat. Tony was sure that any other man would have gagged, but not Gibbs. Nope. All he did was moan in pleasure, suck harder, and gently scrape his teeth over his cock.

Tony was on cloud nine. He was high. He was drunk. He wasn't even on earth, much less in the same universe. It was as though his soul had freed itself from its shell and was just floating around somewhere. His mind was a nice blank sheet of white. He could hear his pulse pounding in his ears, his heart thud against his chest, and his blood was hot beneath his skin and in his veins.

He was dead. Tony couldn't think of a better way to go.

And then . . . he felt a slight squeeze and tug on his balls, and that was the final straw.

Pleasure hit him from all sides and angles, his back arched completely off the bed, and he pushed hard on the back of Gibbs' head until Tony felt his nose pushing into his groin, and he felt his balls tighten and then unloaded himself at the very back of Gibbs' throat. He yelled loud and long as he thrust his hips up one last time.

Gibbs swallowed it all, sucking on Tony's cock and instead of _how many licks does it take . . ._ it was _how many sucks does it take to swallow down all of Tony's cum_.

Apparently, it took a lot.

And Gibbs didn't stop until Tony's cock became flaccid and allowed it to slip out from between his lips. He crawled up Tony's prone body, and kissed him deep and hard on the lips, bruising them. He thrust his tongue inside of Tony's mouth, and Tony moaned as he tasted himself.

Gibbs slid his mouth away from Tony's and began a trail of kisses to his ear, whispering, "I win."

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but his brain wasn't working right, words weren't coming out of his mouth, just unintelligible sounds, and his eyes were heavy with sleep. His body still riding on the aftershocks of his earth shattering climax, felt alive but worn and tired at the same time.

He managed: "Tired." And then fell promptly into a deep sleep.

* * *

Tony woke up with the left side of his face smashed into the pillow and his mouth open, a small spot of saliva dampened the pillow and he could feel the wet clamminess of it on his cheek.

What the fuck? Did he fall asleep again after coming back upstairs? What the hell happened?

It was the sudden shift of the bed from a body turning that had Tony flashing his eyes open and start his heart to thud erratically in his chest.

Gibbs' face, his eyes closed, laid mere inches from his own.

_Gibbs sucked me off. I fucked his mouth. We had sex. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck._ It became a mantra in his head as he silently cursed himself.

And he'd fallen asleep! What the hell happened-Oh, God, the best goddamn climax that he had ever had in his life had happened, that's what. It was so good that it caused him to blackout, just mere moments after the fact . . . and Gibbs, Gibbs didn't get a turn . . .

Leering at Gibbs' body, Tony trailed his eyes down toward the waist, but saw no tent in the covers.

Tony sighed.

"You'll make up for it."

Tony jerked at the sound of Gibbs' voice. "How the hell do you do that?" he asked. "How the hell do you always seem to know what I'm thinking?"

Gibbs shrugged a shoulder. "I know you. End of story."

"But you were asleep, and then you weren't, and then you . . ."

Tony was cut off mid sentence by the pressing of Gibbs' lips to his own. The kiss was soft and gentle, just meant to shut Tony up for a few moments. It worked because when Gibbs lifted his mouth, Tony sighed and a pleased smile curved his lips.

"Nice," he murmured.

"Just nice?" Gibbs asked.

"Hmmm," Tony drawled out in the back of his throat, his eyes still closed. "Very nice."

Gibbs chuckled. "You're a hard man to please, DiNozzo." He propped himself up on his right elbow, pushing Tony over onto his back with his left hand, and then leaned over him until his mouth was a mere breath away. He gazed into Tony's now open eyes. He could feel Tony's warm breath hit his face. "It's a good thing that I'm a patient man." Gibbs pulled away from Tony's mouth.

One of Tony's hands was suddenly at the back of Gibbs' head, his fingers threading through the silver hair, pushing down hard. "Well, I'm not a patient man," he growled as he yanked Gibbs' mouth down to his, crushing their lips together, nipping at the bottom lip, bruising both their mouths.

Tony wanted to be in charge, and Gibbs let him. He knew that Tony needed to show him that just because he was out of commission for the moment, didn't mean that he couldn't take charge. And as much of an Alpha as he was, Gibbs did enjoy giving control over sometimes . . . as long as it was the right person. And Tony . . . he was the right person in every way.

Lifting his mouth from Gibbs, Tony kissed down his throat and to his clavicle. He grazed his teeth over the skin, and smiled as he nipped harder when he felt Gibbs' body tremble with desire. He moved one hand from the back of Gibbs' head down to his waist and pulled him harder onto him. He loved the feeling of Gibbs' weight on him. He felt safe and protected.

He moved back to Gibbs' mouth, and brushed his lips across the other man's. He whispered: "You're right. I will make up for it." Tony felt the grumble in Gibbs chest against his own, and he smirked. "But not right now. Right now, I want food."

Gibbs sighed and rolled off of Tony. He ran a hand roughly over his face. "You're going to be the death of me, you know that right?"

Tony turned his head and looked over at Gibbs. _God,_ he thought, _how I love this man_. He had for such a long time, and now that he knew how Tony felt and that he felt the same way, everything was so close to falling into place. All of Tony's dreams, dreams that he hadn't accepted he wanted until Gibbs had told him that he wanted him, were so close to becoming reality.

_But you don't know if he loves you. If he doesn't love you, then it's useless to feel this way._ _Patience, Tony, patience. You said you weren't a patient man, but now would be a damn good time to learn to be._ "No. I'm going to be your reason to live." He pecked Gibbs lips as the man looked at him in shock. "And you're going to be mine." He threw the covers off his legs and stood beside the bed. "Now, I'm hungry. So what d'ya say about you and me fixing some breakfast?"

Shaking his head as though he were shaking away the shock that had paralyzed him by what Tony had said, Gibbs stood and walked toward Tony who now stood by the door. He linked his arms around Tony's waist, being very mindful of his right side, and kissed his temple.

Surprised by the sweetness of the kiss, much sweeter than any Tony had or given before, he opened his mouth to say something but closed it and remained silent.

"Come on," Gibbs pushed him out the door. "Let me get some food in you before you die of starvation," he teased. "As big as you are, I wouldn't know what to do with your body, if you did."

Tony laughed as they made their way downstairs.

"Knowing you, I'm sure you'd find some way to get rid of me quickly and quietly." He paused. "And I'd never be found, either."

Gibbs snuck a side glance at Tony. "Don't piss me off, and you'll never have to worry about it."

"But I piss you off on a regular basis . . ." Tony mumbled.

Gibbs chuckled. "I know."

* * *

It was while Tony and Gibbs were sitting beside each other on the couch, finishing their breakfast of cereal and coffee, that there was a knock on the door, and then a "Jethro?"

"In here, Duck," he called out.

The front door was closed, and a few moments later, Ducky walked into the living room. He smiled when he saw Gibbs and Tony sitting together on the couch. "Anthony, my boy, how good it is to see you," he declared. "How are you feeling?"

Tony grinned as he set the empty cereal bowl down on the coffee table. "Good to see you, too, Ducky." He shook the medical examiner's outstretched hand. "And I feel fine. There's a little pain, but it's manageable."

"Are you taking your pain medication?"

Tony opened his mouth to speak, but Gibbs, who stood to take his and Tony's bowls and put them in the kitchen sink, interjected: "He took one yesterday before he went to sleep and that's it. And he only took it because I threatened him that I would keep him anchored behind his desk until his hair went gray-" Gibbs paused and smirked, knowing what he was about to say would get under Tony's skin-"or he lost it all, whichever comes first, even when he's given the clear."

His green eyes flashing with anger, Tony pointed an accusing finger at Gibbs' back, yelling as he went into the kitchen: "You play dirty, Jethro. You play _real_ dirty."

Gibbs walked back into the living room, folded his arms across his chest, smirking as he leaned against the frame between the living room and the kitchen. "I thought you already knew that, DiNozzo." His blue eyes glinted with mischief. "Of course if you didn't, you do now. I think you got just the right taste this morning of just how _dirty_ I can 'play'.

Tony blushed.

Ducky's lips twitched and his brows raised slightly. He didn't know what happened this morning, and quite frankly, he didn't think he really wanted to know, but whatever happened, he could tell that it had shifted Jethro and Anthony's relationship-and for the better.

"Well, as I said I would, I'm here to check and see how you're doing, Anthony." He turned and looked over at Gibbs. "Jethro, do you by chance have any tea?"

Gibbs shook his head. "No, but I'll go out and get some while you look over Tony."

"Oh, you don't have to do that, Jethro . . ."

Gibbs pushed away from the door frame. "Asking me for tea, is your way of politely asking me to get lost. I don't have tea, which you know I don't. Nonetheless, I'll go get you some tea and get lost for a little bit."

Ducky smiled. "You know me well, Jethro."

Gibbs rolled his eyes as he went upstairs to change.

Ducky sat in the chair away from the couch, crossing his leg, entwining his fingers together and laying them on top of his knees. He smiled at Tony, but said nothing.

Tony furrowed his brow in confusion, but took Ducky's lead and said nothing. When Gibbs came back downstairs, he watched as Gibbs grabbed the car keys, and couldn't help but grin when he tossed him a look that said _be good_, and informing them that he would be back in a bit, and left.

It was only then when Ducky finally opened his mouth and said, "It is nice to see that you and Jethro are not at each other's throats."

_Well, _Tony thought, _it's according to what you mean by 'at each other's throats'_. "It's only been a couple of days, I haven't had time to work my magic and get on his nerves just yet. Right now he's treating me as though I might break." _Which is really damn annoying._

"Do you think that you might break?"

"No. My side hurts a little, yes, but it's not nearly as bad as Dr. Hepburn said it would be. I guess I just got lucky. Of course, you can't tell Jethro that I feel fine and that he can touch me-" Tony froze as he realized what he had said. _Oh, shit._

Ducky chuckled at the frightened look on Tony's face. "There is no need to worry, my boy. I already know all about how Jethro feels about you." He spread his hands. "Of course, I didn't know until now how you in return felt about him."

Tony swallowed nervously. "Y-you knew that Jeth-that Gibbs has feelings for me?" He paused. "How long have you known about his feelings?"

"Hmm. A while now."

"How long is 'a while'?"

A corner of the medical examiner's mouth turned up slightly. "When we learned about your assignment with Dr. Benoit. Jethro, to say the least wasn't very . . . _happy _about it; and that's not taking into account that Director Shepard went behind his back about you doing that assignment."

Tony set further back into the couch. "Well, technically she didn't go behind his back . . ."

"In Jethro's mind, she did." Ducky paused. "It was then, that I knew that Jethro felt something more for you than just friendship. At first, I thought it was him looking out for you as he would a son-" Ducky couldn't help but laugh when he saw the look of disgust on Tony's face. _Oh, yes,_ he thought, _something most definitely did happen to shift their relationship-_"but then I realized as time went on that that was not the case at all."

Tony bit his tongue to stop himself from asking the question that he desperately needed an answer to. Instead, he said, "But you never guessed that I felt the same way-that I had feelings for him, too?"

Ducky shook his head. "Surprisingly, I did not. You hid your emotions very well. If you do not mind me asking, and you do not have to answer if you do not wish to, but how long have you felt the way you do toward Jethro?"

Thinking for a moment, Tony chewed on his bottom lip. "A while. It took me a couple of years to realize just what it was that I felt about him, but it took me even longer to accept the feelings, and accept the fact that they weren't going anywhere, no matter what I did or what _he_ did for that matter." Tony sighed and ruffled the hair at the back of his head. "Never before have I had any interest in men. Don't get me wrong, I see nothing wrong with the fact if you are gay or whatever, and men have flirted with me before and just because I can't resist, I've flirted back with them but they've always known that I'm doing it in fun, that I don't have any interest in them." He let out a long and shaky breath. "So when I finally realized just what it was that I was feeling toward Jethro, it freaked me out. A lot."

Tony didn't speak for a few moments, and seeing that he needed some encouragement to continue, Ducky said, "That is very understandable."

"Yeah, well, I knew what I was feeling was being felt in vain because _of course_ Leroy Jethro Gibbs wouldn't feel the same way about me as I did him, so I hid my feelings. And obviously I did a good job. Sometimes, if I tried hard enough, I could even make myself forget that I was in love with him. Of course, that never lasted long."

Tony rubbed roughly at his eyes. "And yes, I do realize that I just told you I was in love with Jethro, and yes, I meant to do that because I needed to tell someone because I'm tired of keeping it bottled up inside of me. And now that I know that Jethro does have feelings for me-of just what kind, I don't know-it's become even harder for me not to just blurt everything out to him." He looked over at Ducky, his eyes green eyes shining with tears. "I don't want to lose him now that I've finally, _finally_, got him. I don't want to scare him away."

Ducky rose from the chair and went to sit down beside Tony. He patted the young man's knee. "Anthony, my boy, everything what you feel is understandable, but I feel as though you are not giving enough credit to Jethro-credit that he rightfully deserves; he's a good man. He will not run for the hills if you tell him how you feel."

"Then you do think I should tell him?"

"I think you should tell him when you are ready and when you know that it's the right time to do so. Do not rush things, do not second guess yourself, and do not assume that he doesn't feel the same way about you. Assuming things is what ruins relationships."

Tony sighed. "How will I know when it's the right time to tell him? When will I know I'm ready?"

"You just will. Trust me." Ducky paused at the sound of an engine cutting off and a car door being slammed. "Now, I do believe Jethro is back with my tea." He arose from the couch and made his way toward the kitchen to prepare for the tea, but stopped and looked back at Tony. "The best advice I can give you, Anthony, is to be patient . . . be patient with yourself and with Jethro. Eventually, everything will fall into place as they are meant to fall in."

Tony watched as Ducky continued in the kitchen, and then smiled as he saw the door open and Gibbs walk inside. Gibbs grinned at Tony and rolled his eyes as he informed Ducky that he had his tea.

_Be patient_, Tony thought as he gazed after Gibbs retreating back. _I can do that. For him, and for me._

If he wanted them to work and to become a "them" with Gibbs, then he _had_ to be patient.

Of course, patience is a virtue.


End file.
